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Photographic 

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empreinte. 


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TINUED"), or  the  symbol  V  (meaning  "END"), 
whichever  applies. 


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dernidre  image  de  cheque  microfiche,  selon  le 
cas:  le  symbole  — »-  signifie  "A  SUIVRE",  le 
symbole  V  signifie  "FIN". 


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required.  The  following  diagrams  illustrate  the 
method: 


Les  cartes,  planches,  tableaux,  etc.,  peuvent  dtre 
filmds  d  dos  taux  de  reduction  diff^rents. 
Lorsque  le  document  est  trop  grand  pour  dtre 
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de  Tangle  supdrieur  gauche,  de  gauche  d  droite, 
et  de  haut  en  bas,  en  prenant  le  nombre 
d'images  ndcessaire.  Les  diagrammes  suivants 
illustrent  la  mdthode. 


1 

2 

3 

1 

2 

3 

4 

5 

6 

HISTORY  OF 


THE  BATTLE  OF  LAKE  ERIE. 


?.  y. 


'A 
I 


(n.oKci:  iJ.wcRoFi' 


-   r> 


HISTORY  OF 


THE  BATTLE  OF  LAKE  ERIE, 

AND 
MISCELLANEOUS  PAPERS 


BV 


HON.    GEORGE    BANCROFT. 


LIFE    AND  WRITINGS  OF 

GEORGE   BANCROFT, 


BY 

OLIVER  DYER. 


WITH  PORTRAIT  AND  ILLUSTRATIOXS. 


NEW   YORK: 
ROBERT     BONNER'S     SONS, 
1691. 


COPYBiOHT,  1860  and  1891, 
BY  ROBEBT  BONNER'S  SONS. 


{All  righU  reterved.) 


•Zi    \ 


■,K^ 


LIFE  AND  WRITINGS 


OF 


George  Bancroft. 


By  OLIVER  DYER, 

Author  of  "Great  Senators." 

CHAPTER    I. 

MR.   BANCROFT'S   LIFE  AND   CAREER. 

In  the  last  revision  of  his  History  of  the 
United  States,  made  in  1884,  Mr.  Bancroft 
says : 

"  Scarcely  one  who  wished  me  good  speed 
when  I  first  essayed  to  trace  the  history  of 
America  remains  to  greet  me  with  a  wel- 
come as  I  near  the  goal.  Deeply  grateful 
as  I  am  for  the  friends  who  rise  up  to 
gladden  my  old  age,    their  encouragement 


5  J7 


8 


George  Bancroft 


must  renew  the  grief  for  those  who  have 
gone  before  me."  '' '     * 

This  touching  paragraph  was  written 
when  Mr..  Bancroft  was  eighty-four  years 
old.  lie  was  born  in  Worcester,  Mass., 
October  3,  1800.*'  He  fHed  in'  Washington, 
D.  C,  January  17,  189 1. 

Mr.  Bancroft  came  of  good  stock.  I  lis 
family  name  was  brought  from  England  to 
America  by  John  Bancroft, who  arrived  in 
June,  1632,  jess  than  twelve  years  after  the 
Pilgrims  landed  at  Plymouth.  John  Ban- 
croft settled  at  Lynn,  Mass.  His  descend- 
ants were  always  sturdy  upholders  of  the 
rights  of  the  colonists,  and  enjoyed  the 
respect  of  their  fellow-citizens.  George 
Bancroft's  grandfather,  Samuel  Bancroft, 
filled  several  public  stations  and  was  a 
man  of  note.  The  great  historian's  father. 
Rev.  Aaron  Bancroft,  was  a  Doctor  of 
Divinity  and  a  man  of  mark  and  influence. 


Life  and  Writiui^s 


9 


He  was  born  in  1755.  When  only  twenty 
years  old,  he  foug^ht  at  Lexington  and 
Bunker  Hill.  At  the  age  of  twenty-three 
(1778)  he  was  graduated  at  Harvard  College. 
The  same  year  he  v/as  settled  at  Worces- 
ter, Mass.,  and  died  there  in  1839,  five  years 
after  the  publication  of  the  first  volume  of 
his  son's  History  of  the  United  States,  and 
two  years  after  the  completion  of  the  second 
volume.  He  was  an  able  preacher,  an 
author  of  note  in  his  'lay,  and  a  member  of 
the  American  Academy  of  Arts  and  Sciences. 
His  son  George  therefore  came  by  inherit- 
ance into  his  strong  bias  for  scliolastic,  liter- 
ary and  historical  pursuits. 

From  childhood,  George  Bancroft  exhib- 
ited both  a  fondness  and  an  aptitude  for 
study.  He  was  fitted  for  college  at  the 
Exeter  (N.  H.)  Academy.  He  entered 
Harvard  College  when  he  was  only  thirteen 
years  old,  and  took  his  degree  in  1817,  when 


lO 


George  Bancroft 


\ 


he  was  less  than  seventeen  years  of  age.  He 
stood  second  in  his  class,  of  which  it  is  sup- 
posed he  was  the  youngest  member. 

Edward  Everett,  who  had  recently  been 
appointed  Professor  of  Greek  Literature  in 
Harvard  College,  wished  to  have  some 
young  graduate  of  promise  sent  to  Germany 
for  purposes  of  study,  with  a  view  of  having 
him  enrolled  on  his  return  in  the  corps  of 
college  instructors.  The  choice  fell  on 
Bancroft,  and  in  the  summer  of  1818  he  went 
to  Gottingen.  He  remained  abroad  four 
years,  and  diligently  improved  his  oppor- 
tunities. 

When  we  contrast  the  3  outhfui  Bancroft's 
career  abroad  with  the  way  in  which  the 
vast  majority  of  young  Americans  spend 
their  time  in  Europe,  the  difference  is  seen 
to  be  almost  immeasurable.  It  does  not 
appear  that  he  wasted  an  hou'  in  useless  pur- 
suits, in  frivolous  pleasure,  or  in  the  gratifi- 


Life  and  Writings 


II 


cation  of  an  idle  curiosity.  Every  day  was 
devoted  to  study  and  intelligent  observation, 
or  passed  in  the  company  of  the  eminent 
men  of  that  time  whose  conversation  was  a 
fountain  of  instruction.  Eichhorn,  Heeren, 
Blumenbach,  Schleiermacher,  the  Humboldts, 
Savigny,  Varnhagen  von  Ense,  Lappenberg, 
Schlosser,  Cousin,  Chevalier  Bunsen,  Nie- 
buhr  and  Goethe  were  among  the  distin- 
guished men  whose  acquaintance  he  culti- 
vated. He  also  met  and  passed  a  day  with 
Byron,  an  interesting  account  of  which, 
written  by  Mr.  Bancroft's  own  hand,  will  be 
given  hereafter. 

During  his  residence  abroad,  Mr.  Bancroft 
compassed  a  wide  range  of  study  and  made 
enormous  literary  and  philosophical  acquisi- 
tions. He  chose  history  as  his  special 
branch  of  study,  and  thoroughly  equipped 
himself  for  its  pursuit.  He  mastered  the 
French,    German,   Spanish   and    Italian  Ian- 


12 


Gcofge  Bancroft 


guages  in  order  that  their  rich  historical  and 
literary  treasures  might  come  within  his 
grasp,  and  he  made  these  treasures  his  own 
to  such  an  extent  that  subsequently  he  was 
never  at  a  loss  in  their  use  and  application. 
He  also  applied  himself  to  Greek  phil- 
osophy, in  which  he  pursued  a  thorough 
course ;  he  gave  much  attention  to  meta- 
physics and  morals,  studied  the  oriental  lan- 
guages, the  interpretation  of  the  Scriptures, 
ecclesiastical  history,  ancient  history,  nat- 
ural history  European  history  and  the 
antiquities  and  literature  of  Greece  and 
Rome.  He  traveled  through  Europe,  min- 
gled with  the  philosophers,  the  savants^  the 
statesmen  of  every  country  he  visited,  con- 
stantly enriching  his  mind  by  utilizing  every 
opportunity  that  came  within  his  reach  and 
every  facility  bestowed  by  his  extensive  and 
intimate  intercourse  with  the  finest  intellects 
of  the  age.  - 


Life  and  Writhigs 


13 


Mr.  Bancroft  returned  to  America  in  1822, 
and  in  discharge  of  his  obligations  to  Har- 
vard University  he  accepted  the  office  of 
tutor  of  Greek  in  that  institution.  The 
office  was  uncongenial,  and  he  resigned  it  at 
the  end  of  a  year.  In  1823,  in  conjunction 
with  Dr.  Joseph  G.  Cogswell,  he  founded 
the  Round  Hill  School  at  Northampton, 
Mass.  This  school  was  founded  for  the  pur- 
pose of  giving  boys  broader,  more  congenial 
and  more  "  thorough  instruction  than  had 
previously  been  imparted.  It  was  to  some 
extent  modeled  on  Count  Fellenbcrg's  cele- 
brated institution  at  Hofwyl  in  vSwitzerland. 
There  was  a  farm  in  connection  with  the 
school,  but  the  agricultural  feature  was 
never  successfully  developed.  The  pupils, 
who  were  to  be  from  nine  to  twelve  years  of 
age  on  entering,  and  limited  to  twenty  in 
number,  were  permitted  to  build  houses  for 
themselves  on  the  estate.     Thcv  established 


H 


George  Bancroft 


a  village,  which  thejr  named  Cronyville. 
Each  boy  supervised  the  erection  of  Insowa 
shanty,  and  had  a  chimney  with  an  ample 
fireplace,  where  on  winter  evenings  he  could 
roast  apples  and  potatoes,  pop  corn  ad 
libitunty  and  prepare  other  luxuries  for  the 
delectation  of  his  guests.  It  is  doubtful  if  a 
happier  or  a  healthier  assemblage  of  boys 
was  ever  known.  But  the  school  was  not  a 
financial  success;  it  may  be  said  to  have 
been  ruined  by  its  great  popularity.  Messrs. 
Cogswell  and  Bancroft  hadn't  the  nerve  to 
adhere  to  their  original  determination  to 
limit  the  number  of  pupils  to  twenty.  As 
the  fame  of  the  school  increased,  the  pres- 
sure for  admission  became  so  strong  that  the 
limit  was  removed,  and  the  number  of 
pupils  ran  up  to  over  a  hundred — at  one 
time  to  one  hundred  and  twenty-seven.  A 
large  proportion  of  the  boys  came  from  dis- 
tant home  «)  ;    nearly  fifty  of  them  had  to  be 


!^ 


Life  and   Writings 


15 


kept  through  the  summer;  the  expense  was 
great ;  the  parents  were  slow  in  paying  the 
bills,  and  some  of  them  did  not  pay  at  all ; 
the  executive  ability  of  the  proprietors  of 
the  school  was  not  equal  to  carrying  out  the 
coercive  measures  necessary  to  give  it 
pecuniary  sustentation,  and  the  enterprise 
was  abandoned.  Bancroft  retired  in  the 
summer  of  1830,  after  seven  years'  service. 
Cogswell  held  on  till  1832,  when,  finding  his 
health  much  impaired  and  his  losses  swelled 
to  twenty  thousand  dollars,  he  also  gave  up 
the  attempt  to  carry  on  the  enterprise,  and 
the  popular  but  unprofitable  Round  Hill 
School  was  discontinued. 

During  the  seven  years  in  which  he  was 
trying  to  revolutionize  the  system  of  aca- 
demic education,  Mr.  Bancroft  published 
several  works.  The  first  was  a  small  vol- 
ume, published  in  1823,  entitled  "  Poems  by 
George  Bancroft."     Most  of  the  poems  were 


i6 


George  Bancroft 


written  while  he  was  in  Europe.  The  open- 
ing poem,  which  is  called  "  Expectation,"  is 
autobiographically  reminiscent,  and  gives  a 
glimpse  of  Mr.  Bancroft  and  an  insight  of 
his  feelings,  when,  as  a  youth  of  eighteen,  he 
Get  out  on  his  scholastic  pilgrimage  :       ' .  : 


"  'Twas  in  the  season  when  the  sun 
More  darkly  tinges  spring's  fair  brow, 
And  laughing  fields  had  just  begun 

The  summer's  golden  hues  to  show. 
Earth  still  with  flowers  was  richly  dight, 
And  the  last  rose  in  gardens  glowed : 
In  heaven's  blue  tent  the  sun  was  bright. 
And  western  winds  with  fragrance  flowed 
'Twas  then  a  youth  bade  home  adieu  ; 
And  hope  was  young  and  life  was  new. 
When  first  he  seized  the  pilgrim's  wand 
To  roam  the  far,  the  foreign  land. 


•There  lives  the  marble,  wrought  by  art, 

That  clime  the  youth  would  gain  ;  he  braves 
The  ocean's  fury,  a    1  his  heart 

Leaps  in  him  like  the  sunny  waves 
That  bear  him  onward  ;  and  the  light       •     *-  - 

Of  hope  within  his  bosom  beams,        ;    »    ^ 
Like  the  phosplioric  ray  at  night 

That  round  the  prow  so  cheerly  gleams: 


Life  and  Writings 


17 


But  still  his  eye  would  backward  turn. 
And  still  his  bosom  warmly  burn. 
As  toward  new  worlds  he  'gan  to  roam, 
With  love  for  Freedom's  western  home." 

Mr.  Bancroft  having  tried  his  wings  in 
what  was  plainly  an  unsuccessful  flight, 
evidently  came  to  the  conclusion,  as  Carlyle 
did  after  a  similar  experience,  that  whatever 
J.  oetical  fervor  he  possessed  should  be  used 
to  animate  his  prose.  His  other  works 
were  a  translation  of  Heeren's  "  Politics  of 
Ancient  Greece,"  which  appeared  in  1824, 
and  of  Jacob's  Latin  Reader  (1825).  These 
works  were  intended  for  the  use  of  the 
pupils  at  the  Round  Hill  School.  He  was  a 
constant  contributor  for  many  years  to  the 
o\(\  North  American  Review ^"Sxx^  first  article, 
which  was  a  notice  of  Schiller's  Minor 
Poems,  appearing  in  October,  1823.  He 
gave  translations  of  many  of  the  poems,  and 
the  article  is  said  to  have  attracted  favorable 
attention  on  both  sides  of  the  Atlantic.    .    . 


» 


i8 


George  Bancroft 


He  subsequently  published  his  miscellane- 
ous writings  in  a  small  volume.  He  gave 
much  thought  to  theology  and  preached  a 
few  sermons,  but  finding  that  his  tastes  were 
irreconcilable  with  the  pursuits  and  the  lile 
of  a  clergyman,  he  bade  adieu  to  the  pulpit. 
Yet  he  never  relinquished  his  theological 
tenets,  and  the  warmth  of  his  religious  sym- 
pathies and  the  strength  of  his  belief  in  an 
overruling  Providence  are  displayed  in  his 
treatment  of  historical  events  and  give  fervor 
and  elevation  to  his  style. 

It  was  while  he  was  at  Round  Hill  that 
the  plan  for  his  great  history  was  outlined  in 
his  mind.  It  developed  into  such  a  colossal 
design  that  he  must  have  had  an  inspiring 
assurance  of  long  life  to  enable  him  to  enter 
with  serenity  upon  its  execution  and  to  hope 
for  its  completion. 

I  have  not  discovered  the  date  of  Mr.  Ban- 
croft's first   marriage.     His  wife    was    Miss 


Life  and  Writings 


19 


Sarah  H.  D  wight.  She  died  in  1837,  and  in 
1838  he  married  Mrs.  Elizabeth  Bliss.  By 
the  first  marriage  he  had  several  children, 
only  two  of  whom  survive — John  Chandler 
Bancroft,  now  (1891)  residing  in  Boston,  and 
George,  who  has  spent  most  of  his  life 
abroad. 

In  politics  Mr.  Bancroft  was  a  Democrat, 
and  to  him  was  allotted  a  reasonable  por- 
tion of  party  spoils  and  honors.  He  was 
appointed  collector  of  the  port  of  Boston,  by 
President  Van  Buren,  in  1838,  and  held  the 
office  till  1841.  In  1844,  he  was  the  Demo- 
cratic candidate  for  Governor  of  Massachu- 
setts, but  was  defeated  by  George  N.  Briggs, 
his  Whig  opponent.  In  1845,  ^e  entered 
President  Polk's  cabinet  as  Secretary  of  the 
Navy.  During  his  administration  of  that 
Department,  he  founded  the  Naval  Academy 
at  Annapolis,  adroitly  using  for  that  purpose 
powers  vested  in  tl:u  Secretary  of  the  Navy 


20 


George  Bancroft 


which  had  not  been  heretofore  appreciated. 
While  acting  temporarily  as  Secretary  of 
War,  in  1846,  he  gave  the  order  to  General 
Taylor  to  march  into  Texas,  which  brought 
on  the  war  with  Mexico.  He  also  gave  the 
first  order  to  take  possession  of  California. 
These  orders  resulted  in  the  ultimate  acquisi- 
tion by  the  United  States  of  Texas,  Cali- 
fornia and  other  vast  stretches  of  territory. 

In  1846,  Mr.  Bancroft  relinquished  the 
Secretaryship  of  the  Navy  to  take  the  post 
of  American  minister  to  Great  Britain, 
which  he  retained  until  the  incoming  of 
General  Taylor's  (Whig)  administration  in 
1849.  I"  the  last-named  year  (1849)  ^^^ 
University  of  Oxford  made  him  a  doctor  of 
civil  law,  previous  to  which  he  had  been 
chosen  correspondent  of  the  Royal  Academy 
of  Berlin,  and  also  of  the  French  Institute. 
He  used  the  opportunity  of  his  residence  in 
Europe  to  enlarge  and  perfect  his  collection 


Life  and  Writings 


2  I 


of  American  historical  material.  For  this 
purpose  he  sought  and  obtained  access  to 
the  state  archives  of  Great  Britain,  France 
and  Germany,  and  was  generously  assisted 
in  his  researches  by  the  statesmen,  savants 
and  government  officers  of  those  countries. 
He  returned  to  the  United  States  in  1849,  and 
took  up  his  residence  in  New  York,  where 
he  resided  until  1867.  During  that  period 
he  declined  every  public  office  that  was 
tendered  to  him,  and  devoted  himself  to  his 
great  historical  work,  several  volumes  of 
which  were  completed  and  published.  In 
the  spring  of  1867  he  was  appointed  minister 
to  Prussia.  He  accepted  the  office,  and  in 
1868  he  was  .  credited  to  the  North  Ger- 
man Confederation,  and  in  1871  to  the  Ger- 
man Empire.  Important  treaties  were 
concluded  with  the  various  states  of  the 
Confederation,  in  1868,  under  his  auspices. 
Mr.   Bancroft's    entire   diplomatic   career 


o  ■y 


George  Bancroft 


I 


was  useful  to  his  country  and  honorable  to 
himself.  One  of  the  most  important  services 
which  he  rendered  was  in  his  advocacy  of 
the  cause  of  the  United  States,  before  the 
Emperor  of  Germany,  in  the  settlement  of 
what  was  known  as  the  San  Juan  question. 
In  determining  the  western  portion  of  the 
boundary  line  between  the  American  and 
the  British  possessions,  the  commissioners 
appointed  for  that  purpose  under  the  treaty 
of  1846,  could  not  arrive  at  an  agreement. 
If  the  line  were  run  according  to  the  claim 
of  the  American  commissioners,  the  island  of 
San  Juan  would  belong  to  the  United  States 
and  form  a  part  of  the  (then)  Washington 
Territory ;  if  it  were  run  in  accordance  with 
the  claim  of  the  British  commissioners,  the 
island  of  San  Juan  would  belong  to  Great 
Britain.  The  question  was  at  last  referred 
to  the  Emperor  of  Germany  with  power  "to 
decide  tinally  and  without  appeal  "  the  whole 


Life  and  IVritiuirs 


n 


matter  in  dispute.  Mr.  Blaine,  in  treating  of 
this  subject  in  his  *'  Twenty  Years  of  Con- 
gress," says  :  * 

"  The  government  of  the  United  States 
was  fortunate  in  having  its  rights  and  inter- 
ests represented  before  the  umpire  by  its 
minister  at  Berlin,  the  Honorable  George 
Bancroft.  He  was  a  member  of  Mr.  Folk's 
Cabinet  during  the  period  of  the  discussion 
and  completion  of  the  treaty  of  1846,  and  was 
minister  at  London  when  the  San  Juan  dis- 
pute began.  With  his  prolonged  experience 
in  historical  investigation,  Mr.  Bancroft  had 
readily  mastered  every  detail  of  the  question, 
and  was  thus  enabled  to  present  it  in  the 
strongest  and  most  favorable  light.  His  suc- 
cess fitly  crowned  an  official  career  of  great 
usefulness  and^onor.  His  memorial  to  the 
Emperor  of  Germany,  when  he  presented  his 
case,  was  conceived   in    his   happiest   style. 


*Vol.  11:  pp.  501-3, 


i 


24 


George  Bancroft 


The  opening  words  were  felicitous  and 
touching ;  *  The  treaty  of  which  the  inter- 
pretation is  referred  to  your  majesty's  arbi- 
trament was  ratified  more  than  a  quarter  of 
a  century  ago.  Of  the  sixteen  members  of 
the  British  cabinet  which  framed  and  pre- 
sented it  for  the  acceptance  of  the  United 
States,  Sir  Robert  Peel,  Lord  Aberdeen  and 
all  the  rest  but  one,  are  no  more.  The 
British  minister  who  signed  it  at  Washington 
is  dead.  Of  American  statesmen  concerned 
in  it,  the  minister  at  London,  the  President 
and  Vice-President,  the  Secretary  of  State, 
and  every  one  of  the  President's  constitu- 
tional advisers,  except  one,  have  passed  away. 
I  alone  remain,  and  after  finishing  the  three- 
score years  and  ten  that  are  the  days  of  our 
years,  am  selected  by  my  country  to  uphold 
its  rights.'  " 

The    Emperor    of   Germany   decided  the 
question  in  favor  of  the  United  States.     The 


Life  and   Writings 


25 


British  government  accepted  the  decision 
cordially,  and  the  work  of  determining  the 
boundary  line  was  speedily  completed.  Mr. 
Blaine  adds  that  the  conclusion  of  the  nego- 
tiation enabled  President  Grant  to  say  in  his 
message  to  Congress,  December,  1872 — 
ninety  years  after  the  close  of  the  Revolution- 
ary war :  '*  It  leaves  us  for  the  first  time  in  the 
history  ot  the  United  States  as  a  nation,  with- 
out a  question  of  disputed  boundary  between 
our  territory  and  the  possessions  of  Great 
Britain  on  the  American  continent  " 

Mr.  Bancroft  was  recalled  at  his  own 
request  from  Berlin  in  1874 — four  years 
after  he  had  passed  "  the  three-score  years 
and  ten  that  are  the  days  of  our  years." 
From  that  time  to  the  day  of  his  death  he 
resided  in  Washington,  but  spent  his  sum- 
mers at  Newport,  R.  I.  In  Washington  he 
found  congenial  society,  especially  among 
the    foreign    ministers   (who    usually    came 


26 


George  Bancro/l 


accredited  to  him  as  well  as  to  the  govern- 
ment) and  in  the  ambassadorial  circles.  His 
vast  stores  of  information,  his  brilliant  con- 
versational powers,  his  kindness  of  heart,  his 
agreeable  manners,  his  genial  spirit  mel- 
lowed by  age  and  enriched  by  experience, 
made  him  welcome  in  any  society ;  and 
he  was  so  universally  esteemed  and  so  admir- 
ingly honored  that  his  last  years  were  among 
the  happiest  of  his  four-score  and  ten. 


■^«S»«;«*^i*'' 


CHAPTER   11. 


MR.   BANCROFT  AS  A   HISTORIAN. 

In  his  essay  on  Edward  Everett,  which 
was  published  in  the  New  York  Ledger ^  Mr. 
Bancroft  says  the  three  qualities  needed  by 
historians  are  (i)  perception  of  how  bad  men 
can  be,  of  that  evil  in  human  nature  which 
theologians  call  depravity  ;  that  (2)  events  are 
subordinate  to  law  ;  that  (3)  after  all  there  is 
something  in  man  greater  than  himself.  In 
his  History  of  the  United  States  of  America* 
from  the  Discovery  of  the  Continent  (1492) 
to   the   Adoption   of    the    Federal    Govern- 

*  The  edition  of  Mr.  Bancroft's  history  to  which 
reference  is  made  in  these  pages,  is  the  last  (revised) 
edition,  in  six  volumes,  issured  by  D.  Appleton  & 
Co.,  in  1890. 


28 


George  Bancroft 


ment(i789),  these  three  qualities  are  amply 
exhibited.  The  depravity  of  human  nature 
is  constantly  exposed,  the  overruling  law 
which  flows  from  the  wisdom,  power  and 
mercy  of  a  superintending  Providence  is 
never  lost  sight  of,  and  that  "  something  in 
man  greater  than  himself  **  is  seen  to  lead  man- 
kind onward  and  upward  by  coalescing  with 
the  overruling  law,  and  thus  gradually  over- 
coming the  native  depravity  of  the  human 
race  by  the  evolution  of  a  higher  intelligence 
and  a  purer  morality. 

The  labor  which  Mr.  Bancroft  performed 
in  writing  his  history  was  enormous.  The 
period  embraced  in  his  annals  lacks  but  three 
years  of  three  centuries.  The  vast  material 
which  he  was  obliged  to  gather  was  scattered 
through  the  archives  and  the  libraries  of 
America  and  Europe.  The  authorities 
which  he  was  obliged  to  consult  were 
numerous,    prejudiced,    contradictory,  and, 


Life  and  Writings 


29 


in  many  cases,  obscure,  unveracious  and 
malignant.  To  collect,  compare  and  sift  this 
mass  of  material  so  as  to  winnow  truth  from 
error  and  secure  accuracy  in  the  relation  of 
facts,  even  to  the  details  and  their  coloring, 
and  develop  the  narrative  so  lucidly  that  the 
reader  may  intelligently  follow  the  changes 
of  public  affairs,  and  with  every  page  be 
carried  forward  in  the  story  of  two  hundred 
and  ninety-seven  years  of  diversified  yet  con- 
nected events,  was  a  task  which  might  well 
tax  for  half  a  century  the  abilities  of  the 
most  accomplished  and  industrious  historian. 
The  arrangement  of  the  work,  in  its  chrono- 
logical divisions  and  the  orderly  presenta- 
tion of  pivotal  tacts,  greatly  helps  the  reader 
to  grasp  the  numberless  details  and  to  keep 
in  mind  both  the  contemporaneity  of  impor- 
tant incidents  and  personages  and  the  epochal 
sequences  of  historical  events. 

It  is  not  within  the  scope  of  this  sketch  to 


30 


George  Bancroft 


i 


ii 


give  an  exhaustive  analysis  of  Mr.  Bancroft's 
history,  or  to  set  forth  its  excellence  in 
detail.  The  purpose  is  to  give  such  extracts 
from  the  work  as  will  enable  the  reader  to 
form  an  opinion  of  its  interest,  to  catch 
glimpses  of  the  author's  philosophical 
insight,  and  to  get  a  fair  idea  of  the  force 
and   felicity  of  his  style.     The  first  division, 

• 

entitled,  **  The  History  of  the  United  States 
as  Colonies,"  and  comprising  the  period 
from  1492  to  1748,  narrates  events  of  novel, 
romantic  and  tragic  interest.  The  courage, 
the  fortitude,  the  avarice,  the  cruelty  of 
many  of  the  early  explorers  of  the  North 
American  continent  seem,  in  some  instances, 
to  have  approached  the  superhuman.  The 
expedition  of  Narvaez,  as  described  by  Mr. 
Bancroft,  will  give  the  reader  an  idea  of 
what  the  thirst  for  gold  incited  men  to  do 
three  hundred  and  sixty  odd  years  ago : 
"In   1526,  Pamphilo  de  Narvaez  obtained 


Life  and  Writmgs 


31 


from  Charles  V.  the  contract  to  explore  and 
reduce  all  the  territory  from  the  Atlantic  to 
the  river  Palmas.  ^  *  *  Narvaez,  who 
was  both  rich  and  covetous,  hazarded  all  his 
treasure  on  the  conquest  of  his  province,  and 
sons  of  Spanish  nobles  and  men  of  good  con- 
dition flocked  to  his  standard.  In  June, 
1527,  his  expedition,  in  which  Alvar  Nunez 
Cabeza  de  Vaca  held  the  second  place  as 
treasurer,  left  the  Guadalquivir,  *  *  * 
and  on  the  14th  of  April,  the  dav  before 
Good  Friday,  he  anchored  in  or  near  the 
outlet  of  the  bay  of  the  Cross,  now  Tampa 
Bay. 

"  On  the  day  before  Easter,  the  governor 
landed,  and  in  the  name  of  Spain,  took  pos- 
session of  Florida.  The  natives  kept  aloof, 
or,  if  they  drew  near,  marked  by  signs  their 
impatience  for  his  departure.  But  they  had 
shown  him  samples  of  gold,  which,  if  their 
gestures    were    rightly    interpreted,    came 


^■^^ 


1 


f 


32 


George  Bancroft 


from  the  north.  Disregarding,  therefore, 
the  most  earnest  advice  of  Alvar  Nunez 
Cabeza  de  Vaca,  he  directed  the  ships  to 
meet  him  at  a  harbor  with  which  the  pilot 
pretended  acquaintance ;  and  on  the  first  of 
May,  mustering  three  hundred  men,  of 
whom  forty  were  mounted,  he  struck  into 
the  interior  of  the  country.  Then  for  the 
first  time  the  floating  peninsula,  whose  low 
sands,  impregnated  with  lime,  just  lift  them- 
selves above  the  ocean  on  foundations  laid 
by  the  coral  worms,  a  country  notched  with 
bays  and  drenched  by  morasses,  without 
hills,  yet  gushing  with  transparent  fountains 
and  watered  by  unfailing  rivers,  was  trav- 
ersed by  white  men,  *  *  *  who  found 
no  rich  town,  nor  a  high  hill,  nor  gold. 
When,  on  rafts  and  by  swimming,  they  had 
painfully  crossed  the  strong  current  of  the 
Withlochoochee,  they  were  so  vi^orn  away 
by  famine  as  to  give  infinite  thanks  to  God 


Life  and  Writings 


5J 


for  lighting  upon  a  field  of  unripe  maize. 
Just  after  the  middle  of  June,  they  encoun- 
tered the  Suwanee,  whose  wide,  deep  and 
rapid  stream  delayed  them  till  they  could 
build  a  large  canoe.  Wading  through 
swamps,  made  more  terrible  by  immense 
trunks  of  lallen  trees,  that  lay  rotting  in  the 
water  and  sheltered  the  few  but  skillful 
native  archers,  on  the  day  after  Saint  John's 
they  approached  Appalachee,  where  they 
had  pictured  to  themselv^es  a  populous  town 
and  food  and  treasure,  and  found  only  a 
hamlet  of  forty  wretched  cabins. 

"  Here  they  remained  for  five-and-twenty 
days,  scouring  the  country  round  in  quest  of 
silver  and  gold,  till,  perishing  with  hunger 
and  weakened  bv  fierce  attacks,  they  aban- 
doned all  hope  but  of  an  escape  from  a  region 
so  remote  and  malign.  Amid  increasing 
dangers,  they  went  onward  through  deep 
lagoons  and   the  ruinous  forest  in  search  of 


34 


George  Bancroft 


the  sea,  till  in  August  they  came  upon  a 
bay,  which  they  called  Baia  de  Caballos, 
and  which  now  forms  the  harbor  of  St. 
Mark's.  No  trace  could  be  found  of  their 
ships  ;  sustaining  life,  therefore,  by  the  flesh 
of  their  horses  and  by  six  or  seven  hundred 
bushels  of  maize  plundered  from  the  Indians, 
they  beat  their  stirrups,  spurs,  cross-bows, 
and  other  implements  of  iron  into  saws,  axes, 
and  nails;  and  in  sixteen  days  finished  five 
boats,  each  of  twenty-two  cubits,  or  more 
than  thirty  feet  in  length.  In  calking  their 
frail  craft,  films  of  the  palmetto  served  for 
oakum,  and  they  payed  the  seams  with  pitch 
from  the  nearest  pines.  For  rigging  they 
twisted  ropes  out  of  horsehair  and  the  fibrous 
bark  of  the  palmetto ;  their  shirts  were 
pieced  together  for  sails,  and  oars  were 
shaped  out  of  savins ;  skins  flayed  from 
horses  served  for  water-bottles ;  it  was  diffi- 


Life  and  Writings 


35 


cult  in  the  deep  sand  to  find  large  stones  for 
anchors  and  ballast. 

•'  Thus  equipped,  on  the  twenty-second  of 
September,  about  two  hundred  and  fifty  m  :;n, 
all  of  the  party  whom  famine,  autumnal 
fevers,  fatigue,  and  the  arrows  of  the  savage 
bowman  had  spared,  embarked  for  the  river 
Palmas.  Former  navigators  had  traced  the 
outline  of  the  coast,  but  among  the  voyagers 
there  was  not  a  single  expert  mariner.  One 
shallop  was  commanded  by  Alonso  de  Cas- 
tillo and  Andres  Dorantes,  another  by 
Cabeza  de  Vaca.  The  gunwales  of  the 
crowded  vessels  rose  but  a  hand-breadth 
above  the  water,  till,  alter  creeping  for 
seven  days  through  shallow  sounds,  Gabeza 
seized  five  canoes  of  the  natives,  out  of  which 
the  Spaniards  made  guard-boats  for  their  five 
beats.  During  thirty  days  more  they  kept 
on  their  way,  suffering  from  hunger  and 
thirst,  imperilled    by  a  storm,  now  closely 


36 


George  Bancroft 


following  the  shore,  now  avoiding  savage  ene- 
mies by  venturing  upon  the  sea.  On  the 
thirtieth  of  October,  at  the  hour  of  vespers, 
Cabeza  de  Vaca,  who  happened  to  lead  the 
van,  discovered  one  of  the  mouths  of  the 
river  now  known  as  the  Mississippi,  and  the 
little  fleet  was  snugly  moored  among  islands 
at  a  league  from  the  stream,  which  brought 
down  such  a  flood  that  even  at  that  distance 
the  water  was  sweet.  They  would  have 
entered  the  *  very  great  river '  in  search  of 
fuel  to  parch  their  corn,  but  were  baffled  by 
the  force  of  the  current  and  a  rising  north 
wind.  A  mile  and  a  half  from  land  they 
sounded,  and  with  a  line  of  thirty  fathoms 
could  find  no  bottom.  In  the  night  follow- 
ing a  second  day's  fruitless  struggle  to  go  up 
the  stream,  the  boats  were  separated  ;  but 
the  next  afternoon  Cabeza,  overtaking  and 
passing  Narvaez,  who  chose  to  hug  the  land, 
struck 


boldly 


Bi 


Life  and  Writings 


37 


tillo,  whom  he  descried  ahead.  They  had  no 
longer  an  adverse  current,  and  in  that  region 
the  prevailing  wind  is  from  the  east.  For 
four  days  the  half-famished  adventurers  kept 
prosperously  towards  the  west,  borne  along 
by  their  rude  sails  and  th"ir  labor  at  the  oar. 
All  *he  fifth  of  November  an  easterly  storm 
drove  them  forward  ;  and,  on  the  morning 
of  the  sixth,  the  boat  of  Cabeza  was  thrown 
by  the  surf  on  the  sands  of  an  island,  which  he 
called  the  Isle  of  Malhado — that  is, of  Misfor- 
tune. Except  as  to  its  length,  his  description 
applies  to  Galveston  ;  his  men  believed 
themselves  not  far  from  Panuco.  The  Indians 
of  the  place  expressed  sympathy  for  their 
shipwreck  by  howls,  and  gave  them  food  and 
shelter.  Castillo  was  cast  away  a  little 
farther  to  the  east;  but  he  and  his  company 
were  saved  alive.  Of  the  other  boats,  an 
uncertain  story  reached  Cabeza ;  that  one 
foundered  in  the  gulf ;  that  the  crews  of  the 


38 


George  Bancroft 


two  others  gained  the  shore ;  that  Narvaez 
was  afterward  driven  out  to  sea  ;  that  the 
stranded  men  began  wandering  toward  the 
west;  and  that  all  of  them  but  one  perished 
from  hunger. 

"  Those  who  were  with  Cabeza  and 
Castillo  gradually  wasted  away  from  cold 
and  want  and  despair ;  but  Cabeza  do  Vaca, 
Dorantes,  Castillo,  and  Estevanico,  a  blacka- 
moor from  Barbary,  bore  up  against  every 
ill,  and,  though  scattered  among  various 
tribes,  took  thought  for  each  other's  welfare. 

"The  br;.\^e  Cabeza  de  Vaca,  as  self-pos- 
sessed a  hero  as  ever  graced  a  fiction,  fruit- 
ful in  resources  and  never  wasting  time  in 
complaints  of  fate  or  fortune,  studied  the 
habits  and  the  languages  of  the  Indians; 
accustomed  himself  to  their  modes  of  life  ; 
peddled  little  articles  of  commerce  from 
tribe  to  tribe  in  the  interior  and  along-  the 
coast  f(      " 


forty  or  fifty  leagi 


Life  and  Writings 


39 


fame  in  the  wilderness  as  a  medicine  man  of 
wonderful  gifts.  In  September,  1534,  after 
nearly  six  years'  captivity,  the  great  forerun- 
ner among  the  pathfinders  across  the  con- 
tinent inspired  the  three  others  with  his 
own  marvelous  fortitude,  and,  naked  and 
ignorant  of  the  way,  without  so  much  as  a 
single  bit  of  iron,  they  planned  their  escape. 
Cabeza  has  left  an  artless  account  of  his 
recollections  of  the  journey  ;  but  his  memory 
sometimes  called  up  incidents  ort  of  their 
place,  so  that  his  narrative  is  confused.  He 
pointed  his  course  far  inland,  partly  because 
the  nations  away  from  the  sea  were  more 
numerous  and  more  mild  ;  partly  that,  if  he 
should  again  come  among  Christians,  he 
might  describe  the  land  and  its  inhabitants. 
Continuing  his  pilgrimage  through  more 
than  twenty  months,  sheltered  from  cold 
first  by  deer-skins,  then  by  buffalo  robes,  he 
and  his  companions  passed  through  Texas  as, 


40 


George  Bancroft 


i 


far  north  as  the  Canadian  River,  then  along 
Indian  paths  crossed  the  water-shed  to  the 
valley  of  the  Rio  Grande  del  Norte ;  and 
borne  up  by  cheerful  courage  against 
hunger,  want  of  water  on  the  plains,  cold 
and  weariness,  perils  from  beasts  and  perils 
from  red  men,  the  voyagers  went  from  town 
to  town  in  New  Mexico,  westward  and  still 
to  the  west,  till  in  May,  1536, they  drew  near 
the  Pacific  Ocean  at  the  village  of  San 
Miguel  in  Sonora.  From  that  place  they 
were  escorted  by  Spanish  soldiers  to  Compos- 
tella,  and  all  the  way  to  the  city  of  Mexico 
they  were  entertained  as  public  guests." 

The  expedition  of  Ferdinand  de  Soto,  in 
1539,  was  much  more  romantic  and  tragic 
than  that  of  Narvaez,  but  the  narrative  is 
too  long  to  quote.  Soto  was  rich  and  already 
renowned  for  his  exploits  in  the  New  World, 
and  when  it  became  known  that  he  was 
going  to  lead  an  expedition  into  the  wilds  of 


Life  and  Writings 


4' 


Floiida,   in   search    of  gold  and   glory,  the 
whole  Spanish  peninsula  was  aroused.     The 
noblest  youths   of  Spain,  and  even  of   Por- 
tugal,   sought    service    under    his    banner. 
From  the  numerous  aspirants,  Soto  selected 
for  his  companions  six  hundred  men  in  the 
bloom  of  life,  the   flower  of  the   peninsula. 
The  fleet  sailed  as  gayly  as  on   a  holiday 
excursion.      After    touching    at    Cuba,    of 
which  Soto  had   been  appointed   governor, 
and  where  he  was  welcomed  by  long  and 
brilliant  festivals  and  rejoicings,  he  set  sail 
in  May,  1539,  for  Florida,  leaving  his  wife  to 
govern  Cuba  during  his  absence.     In  a  fort- 
night his  fleet  anchored   in  the  bay  Spiritu 
Santo.     The  soldiers    went   on    shore  ;    the 
horses,   nearly    three    hundred    in   number, 
were  disembarked.     Soto,  imitating  Cortez, 
sent  his  ships  to  Havana,  lest  their  retention 
should  tempt  to  a  retreat. 
•*  And  now,"  says  Mr,    Bancroft,  "  began 


i 
f 

1 

] 

I 

i 

i 

■ 

1 

42 


George  Bancroft 


the  nomadic  march  of  horseman  and  infantry, 
completely  armed ;  a  force  exceeding  in 
numbers  and  equipments  the  famous  par- 
tisans who  triumphed  over  the  empires  of 
Mexico  and  Peru.  Everything  was  provided 
that  experience  in  former  invasions  could 
suggest ;  chains  for  captives  and  the  instru- 
ments of  a  forge  ;  weapons  of  all  kinds  then  in 
use,  and  bloodhounds  as  auxiliaries  against 
the  natives ;  ample  stores  of  food,  and,  as  a 
last  resort,  a  drove  of  hogs,  which  would 
soon  swarm  in  the  favoring  climate  where 
the  forests  and  maize  furnished  them  abun- 
dant sustenance.  It  was  a  roving  company 
of  gallant  freebooters  in  quest  of  a  fortune  ; 
a  romantic  stroll  of  men  whom  avarice 
rendered  ferocious,  through  unexplored 
regions ;  over  unknown  paths,  wherever 
rumor  might  point  to  the  residence  of  some 
chieftain  with  more  than  Peruvian  wealth, 
or  the  ill-interpreted   signs  of  the  ignorant 


1 


Life  and  Writings 


43 


natives  might  seem  to  promise  gold.  Often, 
at  the  resting-places,  groups  of  listless 
adventurers  clustered  together  to  enjoy  the 
excitement  of  desperate  gaming.  Religious 
zeal  was  also  united  with  avarice  ;  twelve 
priests,  besides  other  ecclesiastics,  accom- 
panied the  expedition.  Ornaments  for  the 
service  of  mass  were  provided ;  every 
festival  was  to  be  kept,  every  religious 
practice  to  be  observed.     *     *     * 

"  The  movements  of  the  first  season,  from 
June  to  the  end  of  October,  1039,  brought 
the  company  from  the  bay  of  Spiritu  Santo 
to  the  home  of  the  Appalachians,  east  of 
the  Flint  River,  and  not  far  from  the  head 
of  the  bay  of  Appalachee.  The  names  of  the 
intermediate  places  cannot  be  identified. 
The  march  was  tedious  and  full  of  dangers. 
The  Indians  were  always  hostile  ;  the  two 
captives  of  the  former  expedition  escaped  ;  a 
Spaniard,  who  had  been  kept  in  slavery  from 


44 


George  Bancroft 


\ 
I 


\ 


the  time  of  Narvaez  (1528),  could  give  no 
accounts  of  any  land  where  there  was  silver 
or  gold.  The  guides  would  purposely  lead 
the  Castilians  astray  and  involve  them  in 
morasses,  even  though  death  under  the  fangs 
of  the  bloodhounds  was  the  certain  punish- 
ment. The  company  grew  dispirited,  and 
desired  the  governor  to  return,  since  the 
region  opened  no  brilliant  prospects.  *  I 
will  not  turn  back,'  said  Soto,  *  till  I  have 
seen  the  poverty  of  the  country  with  my 
own  eyes.'  The  hostile  Indians  who  were 
taken  prisoners  were  in  part  put  to  death,  in 
part  enslaved.  These  were  led  in  chains, 
with  iron  collars  about  their  necks ;  their 
service  was  to  grind  the  maize  and  to  carry 
the  baggage.  An  exploring  party  dis- 
covered Ochus,  the  harbor  of  Pensacola ; 
and  a  message  was  transmitted  to  Cuba, 
desiring  that  in  the  ensuing  year,  supplies 
might  be  sent  to  that  place."      .'  ;  /  .  .*  ..    Tt 


Life  and  Writings 


45 


From  this  time,  disappointment  and  dis- 
aster tracked  every  step  of  the  adventurers. 
Their  inhumanity  excited  in  the  Indians  an 
unappeasable  thirst  for  vengeance.  The 
young  cavaliers  took  delight  in  cruelty  and 
carnage.  They  cut  off  the  hands  of  Indians 
for  a  pastime,  and  for  the  purpose  of  intimi- 
dating the  tribes.  Numbers  of  the  natives 
were  enslaved  and  made  to  serve  as  porters 
and  guides.  Their  villages  were  wantonly 
set  on  fire  and  consumed.  They  were  robbed 
of  their  stores  of  food  and  left  to  perish  of 
starvation.  These  cruelties  added  to  the 
difficulties  which  more  and  more  thickl}'' 
environed  the  Spaniards.  Their  native 
guides  constantly  led  them  astray.  For 
three  years  they  wandered  in  the  intermin- 
able wilds,  and  suffered  all  that  hunger,  sick- 
ness, nakedness  and  hope  deferred  could 
inflict.  The  exaltation  with  which  they 
started  on  their  quest  for  gold  was  changed 


46 


George  Bancroft 


I 


i 


to  despondency,  their  gayety  to  melancholy, 
their  hope  to  despair;  but  their  resolution 
did  not  falter,  nor  their  fortitude  yield,  nor 
their  courage  quail.  The  story  of  their 
adventures  and  their  sufferings  almost  tran- 
scends belief.  At  last,  in  May,  1542,  on  the 
banks  of  the  Washita  River,  on  the  western 
side  of  the  Mississippi,  Soto's  stubborn  pride 
and  dauntless  resolution  succumbed  to  a 
malignant  fever,  and  on  the  twenty-first  of 
the  month  he  died,  without  any  of  the  kind 
and  gentle  ministrations  which  are  so  grate- 
ful in  the  last  hours  of  mortals.  "Thus," 
says  Mr.  Bancroft,  "  perished  Ferdinand 
de  Soto,  the  governor  of  Cuba,  the  success- 
ful associate  of  Pizarro.  His  miserable  end 
was  the  more  observed  from  the  greatness 
of  his  former  prosperity.  His  soldiers  pro- 
nounced his  eulogy  by  grieving  for  their 
loss ;  the  priests  chanted  over  his  body  the 
first  requiems  that  were  ever  heard  on  the 


Life  and  Writings 


47 


waters  of  the  Mississippi.  To  conceal  his 
death,  his  body  was  wrapped  in  a  mantie, 
and  in  the  stillness  of  midnight  was  sunk  in 
the  middle  of  the  stream." 


i 


CHAPTER    III. 

VIVID    SKETCHES   OF   GREAT   MEN. 

Every  chapter  of  Mr.  Bancroft's  History 
contains  passages  of  vivid  interest,  but  the 
propo  sed  limits  of  this  sketch  forbid  their 
quotation.  A  long  skip  must  be  made,  but  I 
cannot  forbear  to  give  this  electric  flash 
upon  the  character  of  James  I.,  "  who  was 
not  destitute  of  shrewdness  nor  unskilled  in 
rhetoric.  He  aimed  at  the  reputation  of  a 
*  most  learned  clerk,*  and  so  successfully 
that  Bacon  pronounced  him  incomparable 
for  learning  among  kings  ;  and  Sully,  who 
knew  him  well,  esteemed  him  the  wisest 
fool  in  Europe.  At  the  mature  age  of 
thirty-six,  the  imbecile  man,  afflicted  with  an 


It... 


Life  and  Writings 


49 


ungainly  frame  and  a  timorous  nature, 
escaped  from  austere  supervision  in  Scot- 
land to  freedom  of  self-indulgence  in  the 
English  court.  His  will,  like  his  passions, 
was  feeble,  so  that  he  could  never  carry  out 
a  wise  resolution;  and,  in  his  love  of  ease,  he 
had  no  fixed  principles  of  conduct  or  belief. 
Moreover,  cowardice,  which  was  the  core 
of  his  character,  led  him  to  be  false ;  and  he 
could  vindicate  deception  and  cunning  as 
worthy  of  a  king ;  but  he  was  an  awkward 
liar  rather  than  a  crafty  dissembler." 

In  his  chapter  on  "  The  Place  of  Puritan- 
ism in  History,"  Mr.  Bancroft  has  a  theme 
which  evidently  enlists  his  theological  an^d 
political  sympathies.  His  treatment  of  the 
subject  is  fervid  and  picturesque.  The 
entire  chapter  is  full  of  interest,  but  only  a 
few  extracts  can  be  given.  "  There  are 
some,"  says  the  eloquent  historian,  "  who 
love  to  enumerate  the  singularities  of    the 


50 


George  Bancroft 


I 


early  Puritans.  They  were  opposed  to 
wigs;  they  could  preach  against  veils  ;  they 
denounced  long  hair ;  they  disliked  the  cross 
in  the  banner  as  much  as  the  people  of  Paris 
disliked  the  lilies  of  the  Bourbons.  They 
would  not  allow  Christmas  to  be  kept 
sacred ;  they  called  neither  months,  nor 
days,  nor  seasons,  nor  churches,  nor  inns  by 
the  names  comm.on  in  England ;  they 
revived  Scripture  names  at  christenings. 
The  grave  Romans  legislated  on  the  cos- 
tume of  men,  and  their  senate  could  even 
stoop  to  interfere  with  the  triumphs  of  the 
sex  to  which  civic  honors  were  denied  ;  the 
fathers  of  New  England  prohibited  frivolous 
fashions  in  their  own  dress  ;  and  their  aus- 
terity checking  extravagance  even  in 
w  irowned  on  her  hoods  of  silk  and 

scarfs  of  tiffany,  extended  her  sleeve  lo 
the  wrist,  and  limited  its  greatest  width  to 
half  an  ell.    The  Puritans  were  (ormal  and 


Life  and  Writings 


5^ 


precise  in  their  manners ;  singular  in  tlie 
forms  of  their  legislation.  Every  topic  of 
the  day  found  a  place  in  their  extemporan- 
eous prayers,  and  infused  a  stirring  interest 
into  their  long  and  frequent  sermons.  The 
courts  of  Massachusetts  respected  in  prac- 
tice the  code  of  Moses;  in  New  Haven  the 
members  of  the  constituent  committee  were 
called  the  seven  pillars,  hewn  out  for  the 
house  of  wisdom.  But  these  are  only  forms, 
which  gave  to  the  new  faith  a  marked 
exterior.  If  from  the  outside  peculiarities 
we  look  to  the  genius  of  the  sect  itself,  Puri- 
tanism had  two  cardinal  principles :  Faith  in 
the  absolute  sovereignty  of  God,  whose  will 
is  perfect  right ;  and  the  Equality  of  all  who 
bel'  ive  that  His  will  is  to  be  done.  It  was 
Religion  struggling  in,  with  and  for  the 
People  ;  a  war  against  tyranny  and  supersti- 
tion.    '*'    Ik     ft 

.  "  The  church  existed  independent  of  its  pas- 


'"•'A 


52 


George  Bancroft 


tor,  who  owed  his  office  to  its  free  choice  ;  the 
will  of  the  majority  was  its  law  ;  and  each 
one  of  the  brethren  possessed  equal  rights 
with  the  elders.  The  right,  exercised  by 
each  congregation,  of  electing  its  own  minis- 
ters, was  in  it  ^If  a  moral  revolution ;  reli- 
gion was  now  with  the  people,  not  over 
the  people.  Puritanism  exalted  the  laity. 
Every  individual  who  had  experienced  the 
rapture  of  devotion,  ever}^  believer  who  in 
moments  of  ecstas}^  had  felt  the  assurance  of 
the  favor  of  God,  was  in  his  own  eyes  a  con- 
secrated person,  chosen  to  do  the  noblest  and 
godliest  deeds.  For  him  the  wonderful 
counsels  of  the  Almighty  had  appointed  a 
Saviour ;  for  him  the  laws  of  nature  had 
been  suspended  and  controlled,  the  heavens 
had  opened,  earth  had  quaked,  the  sun  had 
veiled  his  face,  and  Christ  had  died  and  had 
risen  again  ;  for  him  prophets  and  apostles 
had  revealed  to  the  world  the  oracles  and  the 


J. 


mmm 


Life  and  Writings 


53 


will  of  God.  Before  Heaven  he  prostrated 
himself  in  the  dust ;  looking  out  upon  man- 
kind, how  could  he  but  respect  himself  whom 
God  had  chosen  and  redeemed?  He  cher- 
ished hope  ;  he  possessed  faith  ;  as  he  walked 
the  earth  his  heart  was  in  the  skies.  Angels 
hovered  round  his  path,  charged  to  minister 
to  his  soul ;  spirits  of  darkness  vainly  leagued 
together  to  tempt  him  from  his  allegiance. 
His  burning  piety  could  use  no  liturgy ;  his 
penitence  revealed  itself  to  no  confessor.  He 
knew  no  superior  in  holiness.  He  could  as 
little  become  the  slave  of  priestcraft  as  of  a 
despot.  He  was  himself  a  judge  of  the 
orthodoxy  of  the  elders ;  and  if  he  feared  the 
invisible  powers  of  the  air,  of  darkness  and 
of  hell,  he  feared  nothing  on  earth.  Puri- 
tanism constituted  not  the  Christian  clergy, 
but  the  Christian  people,  the  interpreter  of 
the  divine  will ;  and  the  issue  of  Puritanism 
was  popular  sovereignty,  •    • 


^ 


m 


54 


George  Bancroft 


"  The  effects  of  Puritanism  display  its  char- 
acter still  more  distinctly.  Ecclesiastical 
tyranny  is  of  all  kinds  the  worst ;  its  fruits 
are  cowardice,  idleness,  ignorance  and  pov- 
erty. Puritanism  was  a  life-giving  spirit; 
activity,  thrift,  intelligence  followed  in  its 
train ;  and  as  for  courage,  a  coward  and  a 
Puritan  never  went  togetl  er.  *  *  * 
.  "  Of  all  contemporary  sects,  the  Puritans 
were  the  most  free  from  credulity,  and,  in 
their  zeal  for  reform,  pushed  their  regulations 
to  what  some  would  consider  a  skeptical 
extreme.  So  many  superstitions  had  been 
bundled  up  with  every  venerable  institution 
of  Europe  that  ages  had  not  yet  dislodged 
them  all.  The  Puritans  at  once  emancipated 
themselves  from  the  thralldofn  to  obser- 
vances. They  established  a  worship  purely 
spiritual.  They  stood  in  prayer.  To  them 
the  elements  remained  but  wine  and  bread, 
and   in  communing  they  would   not  kneel. 


Life  and  Writings 


55 


They  invoked  no  saints ;  they  raised  no  altar  ; 
they  adored  no  crucifix ;  they  kissed  no  book ; 
they  asked  no  absolution  ;  they  paid  no  tithes ; 
they  saw  in  the  priest  nothing  more  sacred 
than  a  man  ;  ordination  was  no  more  than  an 
approbation  of  the  officer,  which  might  be 
expressed  by  the  brethren  just  as  well  as  by 
other  ministers;  the  church,  as  a  place  of 
worship,  was  to  them  but  a  meeting-house ; 
they  dug  no  graves  in  consecrated  earth  ; 
unlike  their  posterity,  they  married  without 
a  minister  and  buried  their  dead  without  a 
prayer.     *     *    * 

"  Historians  have  loved  to  eulogize  the 
manners  and  virtues,  the  glory  and  the  bene- 
fits of  chivalry.  Puritanism  accomplished 
for  mankind  far  more.  If  it  had  the  secta- 
rian crime  of  intolerance,  chivalry  had  the 
vices  of  dissoluteness.  The  knights  were 
brave  from  gallantry  of  spirit ;  the  Puritans 
from  the  fear  of  God.     The  knights  obeyed 


'SI 


i  I 

v\ 

»  'I 


56 


George  Bancroft 


I  i 


the  law  of  honor ;  the  Puritans  hearkened  to 
the  voice  of  duty.  The  knights  were  proud 
of  loyalty ;  the  Puritans  of  liberty.  The 
knights  did  homage  to  monarchs,  in  whose 
smile  they  beheld  honor,  whose  rebuke  was 
disgrace ;  the  Puritans,  in  their  disdain  of 
ceremony,  would  not  bow  at  the  name  of 
Jesus,  nor  bend  the  knee  to  the  King  of  kings. 
Chivalry  delighted  in  outward  show,  fav- 
ored pleasure,  multiplied  amusements  and 
degraded  the  human  race  by  an  exclusive 
respect  for  the  privileged  classes ;  Puritanism 
bridled  the  passions,  commanded  the  virtues 
of  self-denial,  and  rescued  the  name  of  man 
from  dishonor.  The  former  valued  cour- 
tesy ;  the  latter,  justice.  The  former  adorned 
society  by  graceful  refinements  ;  the  latter 
founded  national  grandeur  on  universal  edu- 
cation. The  institutions  of  chivr.lry  were 
subverted  by  the  gradually  increasing  weight 
and  knowledge  and  opulence  of  the  industri- 


i 


Life  and  Writings 


57 


ous  classes  ;  the  Puritans,  rallying  upon  those 
classes,  planted  in  their  hearts  the  undying 
principles  of  democratic  liberty." 

In  describing  the  conduct  of  Charles  I.  in 
the  chapter  on  "  The  Fall  and  Restoration  of 
the  Stuarts,"  Mr.  Bancroft  gives  this  noble 
passage  : 

"  Treason  against  the  state,  on  the  part  of 
its  highest  officers,  is  the  darkest  of  human 
offences.  Fidelity  to  the  constitution  is  due 
from  every  citizen ;  in  a  monarch,  the  debt 
is  enhanced,  for  the  monarch  is  the  hereditary 
and  special  favorite  of  the  fundamental  laws. 
The  murderer,  even  where  his  victim  is  emin- 
ent for  mind  and  character,  destroys  what  time 
will  repair  ;  and,  deep  as  is  his  guilt,  society 
suffers  but  transiently  from  the  transgres- 
sion. But  the  king  who  conspires  against  the 
liberties  of  the  people,  conspires  to  subvert 
the  most  precious  bequest  of  past  ages,  the 
dearest  hope  of  future  time ;  he  would  destroy 


■vl! 

til 


n 


58 


George  Bancroft 


genius  in  its  birth  and  enterprise  in  its 
sources,  and  sacrifice  the  prolific  causes  of 
intelligence  and  virtue  to  his  avarice  or  his 
vanity,  his  caprices  or  his  ambition  ;  would 
rob  the  nation  of  its  nationality,  the  indi- 
vidual of  the  prerogatives  of  man  ;  would 
deprive  common  life  of  its  sweets,  by  depriv- 
ing it  of  its  security,  and  religion  of  its 
power  to  solace,  by  subjecting  it  to  super- 
vision and  control.  His  crime  would  not 
only  enslave  a  present  race  of  men,  but  forge 
chains  for  unborn  generations.  There  can 
be  no  fouler  deed." 

In  his  characterization  of  Cromwell,  Mr. 
Bancroft  says:  "All  great  men  incline  to 
fatalism,  for  their  success  is  a  mystery  to 
themselves ;  and  it  was  not  entirely  with 
hypocrisy  that  Cromwell  professed  himself 
the  servant  of  Providence,  borne  along  by 
irresistible  necessity.     *    *     * 

"  Cromwell   was  one  whom  even  his  ene- 


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59 


mies  cannot  name  without  acknowledging  his 
greatness.       The    farmer  .of     Huntingd^^n, 
accustomed     only     to     rural     occupations, 
unnoticed  till  he   was  more  than  forty  years 
old,  engaged  in  no  higher  plots  than  how  to 
improve  the  returns  of  his  land  and  fill  his 
orchard  with  choice  fruit,  of  a  sudden  became 
the  best  officer  in  the   British  army,  and  the 
greatest  statesman  of   his  time ;   overturned 
the  English  constitution,  which  had  been  the 
work  of  centuries  ;  held  in  his  own  grasp  the 
liberties  which  formed  a  part  of  the  nature  of 
the   English  people,  and  cast  the   kingdoms 
into  a  new  mould.     Religious  peace,  such  as 
England  till  now  has  never  again  seen,  flour- 
ished   under    his   calm    meditation ;    justice 
found  its  way  even  among  the  remotest  High- 
lands of  Scotland;  commerce  filled  the  Eng- 
lish marts  with  prosperous  activity  ;  his  fleets 
rode  triumphant  in  the  West   Indies  ;  Nova 
Scotia  submitted   to   his   orders    without  a 


i 


i! 


I!  f- 


60 


George  Bancroft 


struggle  ;  the  Dutch  begged  of  him  for  peace 
as  for  a  boon  ;  Louis  XIV.  was  humiliated  ; 
the  Protestants  of  Piedmont  breathed 
their  prayers  in  security.  His  squadron 
made  sure  of  Jamaica ;  he  had  strong 
thoughts  of  Hispaniola  and  Cuba ;  and,  to 
use  his  own  words,  resolved  *  to  strive  with 
the  Spaniard  for  the  mastery  of  all  those 
seas.'  The  glory  of  the  English  was  spread 
throughout  the  world :  *  Under  the  tropic 
was  their  language  spoke.* 

**  And  yet  his  career  was  but  an  attempt  to 
conciliate  a  union  between  his  power  and 
permanent  public  order ;  and  the  attempt 
was  always  unavailing,  from  the  inherent 
impossibility  growing  out  of  the  origin  of  his 
power.  It  was  derived  from  the  submission, 
not  from  the  will,  of  the  people  ;  it  came  by 
the  sword,  not  from  the  nation,  nor  from 
national  usages.  Cromwell  saw  the  imprac- 
ticability of  a  republic,  and  offered  no  excuse 


Life  and  Writings 


6i 


for  his  usurpations  but  the  right  of  the  strong- 
est to  restore  tranquility — the  plea  of  tyrants 
and  oppressors  from  the  beginning  of  the 
world.     *     *     * 

•*  Seldom  was  there  a  less  scrupulous  or 
more  gifted  politician  than  Cromwell.  But 
he  was  no  longer  a  leader  of  a  party.  He 
had  no  party.  A  party  cannot  exist  except 
by  the  force  of  common  principles ;  it  is 
truth,  and  truth  only,  that  of  itself  rallies  men 
together.  Cromwell,  the  oppressor  of  the 
Independents,  had  ceased  to  respect  princi- 
ples ;  his  object  was  the  advancement  of  his 
family ;  his  hold  on  opinion  went  no  farther 
than  the  dread  of  anarchy,  and  the  strong 
desire  for  order.  If  moderate  and  disinter- 
ested men  consented  to  his  power,  it  was  to 
his  power  as  high  constable,  engaged  to  pre- 
serve the  public  peace.  He  could  not  confer 
on  his  country  a  fixed  form  of  government, 
for  that  required  a  concert  with  the  national 


62 


George  Bancroft 


[ifi 


t\ 


affections  which  he  was  never  able  to  gain. 
He  had  clear  notions  of  public  liberty,  and 
he  understood  how  much  the  English  people 
are  disposed  to  honor  their  representatives. 
Thrice  did  he  attempt  to  connect  his  usur- 
pation with  the  forms  of  representative 
government,  and  always  without  success." 

One  of  the  finest  specimens  of  Mr.  Ban- 
croft's style  when  he  is  treating  domestic 
themes,  occurs  in  his  description  of  the  polity, 
the  character  and  the  condition  of  the 
founders  of  the  colony  of  Connecticut : 

"  The  charter  of  Connecticut  secured  to  her 
an  existence  of  unsurpassed  tranquility. 
Unmixed  popular  power  was  safe  under  the 
shelter  of  severe  morality  ;  and  beggary  and 
crime  could  not  thrive.  From  the  first,  the 
minds  of  the  yeomanry  were  kept  active  by 
the  constant  exercise  of  the  elective  fran- 
chise;  and,  except  under  James  II.,  there 
was  no  such  thing   in  the   land  as  a  home 


Life  and  Writings 


63 


officer  appointed  by  the  English  king.  The 
government  was  in  honest  and  upright 
hands  ;  the  strifes  of  rivalry  never  became 
heated  ;  in  the  choice  of  magistrates,  gifts  of 
learning  and  genius  were  valued,  but  the 
state  was  content  with  virtue  and  single- 
mindedness ;  and  the  public  welfare  never 
suffered  at  the  hands  of  plain  men.  '*''*'* 
*'  Industry  enjoyed  the  abundance  which  it 
created.  No  great  inequalities  of  conditioTi 
excited  envy  or  raised  political  feuds  ;  wealth 
could  display  itself  only  in  a  larger  house 
and  a  fuller  barn.  There  was  venison  from 
the  hills ;  salmon  in  their  season,  not  less 
than  shad,  from  the  rivers  ;  and  sugar  from 
the  maple  of  the  forest.  For  a  foreign  mar- 
ket little  was  produced  beside  cattle  ;  and,  in 
return  for  them,  but  few  foreign  luxuries 
stole  in.  Even  so  late  as  171 3,  the  number  of 
seamen  did  not  excec^  one  hundred  and 
twenty.     The  soil  had  originally  been  justly 


64 


George  Bancroft 


\  1 


divided,  or  held  as  common  propert}^  in  trust 
for  the  public,  and  for  new-comers.  There 
was  for  a  long  time  hardly  a  lawyer  in  the 
land.  The  husbandman  who  held  his  own 
plough  and  fed  his  own  cattle  was  the  great 
man  of  that  day  ;  no  one  was  superior  to  the 
matron,  who,  with  her  busy  daughters,  kept 
the  hum  of  the  wheel  incessantly  alive,  spin- 
ning and  weaving  every  article  of  their  dress. 
Life  was  uniform.  The  only  revolution  was 
from  the  time  of  sowing  to  the  time  of  reap- 
ing; from  the  plain  dress  of  the  week  to  the 
more  trim  attire  of  Sunday.  There  was 
nothing  morose  in  the  Connecticut  character. 
Frolic  mingled  with  innocence ;  and  the 
annual  thanksgiving  to  God  was,  from  primi- 
tive times,  as  joyous  as  it  was  sincere." 


CHAPTER    IV. 


NOBLE   STRUGGLES  FOR  LIBERTY. 


Mr.  Bancroft's  narrative  of  the  proceedings 
by  Charles  II.  to  deprive  the  colony  of  Mas- 
sachusetts of  its  chartered  liberties,  stirs  one's 
blood  and  excites  his  indignation.  In  1679  it 
was  determined  to  annul  the  charter  and 
bring  the  colony  under  the  rule  of  despot- 
ism. It  was  against  fearful  odds  that  Mas- 
sachusetts entered  into  this  struggle ;  but 
her  brave  sons  did  not  quail.  They  met  the 
danger  as  undauntedly  then  as,  a  hundred 
years  later,  they  met  their  British  foes  at 
Lexington,  Concord  and  Bunker  Hill.  The 
king,  astounded  at  the  ability  and  fortitude 
exhibited    by   the   colonists,   himself   shrank 


66  George  Bancroft 


from  the  contest,  and  tried  to  wheedle  them 
out  of  their  liberties.  They  were  informed 
that  if  they  would  submit,  the  royal  favor 
would  be  extended  to  them,  and  that  the 
fewest  alterations  would  be  made  in  their 
charter  consistent  with  the  support  of  a  royal 
government.  At  the  same  time  a  quo  war- 
ranto was  issued  and  Massachusetts  was 
arraigned  before  an  English  tribunal,  under 
judges  holding  their  office  at  the  pleasure  of 
the  monarch.  The  agents  of  the  colony  rep- 
resented its  condition  as  desperate.  '*  Was 
it  not  safest  for  the  colony  to  decline  a  con- 
test, and  throw  itself  upon  the  favor  or  for- 
bearance of  the  king  ?  Such  was  the  theme 
of  universal  discussion  ;  it  entered  into  the 
prayers  of  families ;  it  filled  the  sermons  of 
the  ministers ;  and,  finally,  Massachusetts 
resolved,  in  a  manner  that  showed  it  to  be 
distinctly  the  sentiment  of  the  people,  not  to 
concede  one  liberty  or  one  privilege  which 


Life  and  Writings 


67 


was  held  by  charter.  If  liberty  was  to 
receive  its  death-blow,  better  that  it  should 
die  by  the  violence  and  injustice  of  others 
than  by  its  own  weakness." 

The  conclusions  of  the  colonists  as  to  their 
rights  and  duties  were  conceived  in  that  lofty 
spirit  which  is  inspired  by  love  of  liberty  and 
devotion  to  God.  **  Ought  the  government 
of  Massachusetts,"  they  argued,  "  submit  to 
the  pleasure  of  the  court  as  to  alteration  of 
their  charter?  Submission  would  be  an 
offense  against  the  majesty  of  Heaven ;  the 
religion  of  the  people  of  New  England  nnd 
the  court's  pleasure  cannot  consist  to- 
gether.    **•»«• 

"  The  civil  liberties  of  New  England  are 
part  of  the  inheritance  of  their  fathers ;  and 
shall  we  give  that  inheritance  away  ?  Is  it 
objected  that  we  shall  be  exposed  to  great 
sufferings  ?  Better  suffer  than  sin.  It  is  bet- 
ter to  trust  the  God  of  our  fathers  than  to 


M 


I 


ir^ 


68 


George  Bancroft 


.\  ! 


it 


put  confidence  in  princes.  It  we  suffer 
because  we  dare  not  comply  with  the  will  of 
men  against  the  will  of  God,  we  suffer  in  a 
good  cause,  and  shall  be  accounted  martyrs 
in  the  next  generation  and  at  the  great  day." 

These  noble  sentiments  cannot  be  taken 
too  deeply  to  heart  by  American  freemen  of 
this  generation  ;  nor  can  the  legacy  of  freedom 
which  those  brave  men  left  us  be  too  highly 
prized  or  too  ardently  cherished.  To  ^hink 
that  such  a  people  should  be  subjected  to  the 
insolence  and  the  tyranny  of  a  king  whose 
character  was  so  foul  that  the  mere  thought 
of  it  excites  nausea  in  the  stomach  of  every 
decent  human  being,  is  sufficient  to  make 
every  self-respecting  freeman  rejoice  in 
regicide. 

The  judicial  proceedings  against  the  colony 
were  changed  in  the  summer  of  1684  to  avoid 
certain  legal  obstacles,  and  the  charter  was 
adjudged   to    be   forfeited.      Thus    fell   the 


Life  and  IVn'tinji^s 


69 


charter  which  had  been  brou£^ht  by  the  fleet 
of  Winthrop  to  the  shores  of  New  England, 
and  had  been  cherished  with  courage  through 
every  vicissitude.  Gloomy  forebodings  over- 
spread New  England,  but  the  courage  of 
those  brave  old  hearts  did  not  wane.  They 
trusted  in  themselves  and  in  God,  whose 
slow-grinding  mills  were  already  beginning 
to  pulverize  the  despotism  of  the  Stuarts. 

The  last  chapter  of  the  first  volume  of  the 
history,  which  brings  the  narrative  of  events 
down  to  the  great  revolution  of  1688  and  the 
accession  of  William  of  Orange  to  the  Eng- 
lish throne,  sums  up  the  results  thus  far  with 
felicity  and  power.  '*  The  emigration,"  says 
Mr.  Bancroft,  "  of  the  fathers  of  these  com- 
monwealths [the  American  colonies],  with 
the  planting  of  the  principles  on  which  they 
rested,  though,  like  the  introduction  of 
Christianity  into  Rome,  but  little  regarded 
by    contemporary    writers,    was    the    most 


70 


George  Bancroft 


i\ 


momentous  event  of  the  seventeenth  century. 
The  elements  of  our  country,  such  as  she 
exists  to-day,  were  already  there.  -J^  *  * 
Nothing  came  from  Europe  but  a  free  people. 
The  people,  separating  itself  from  all  other 
elements  of  previous  civilization  ;  the  people, 
self  confiding  and  industrious;  the  people 
wise  by  all  traditions  that  favored  its  culture 
and  happiness — alone  broke  away  from 
European  influence,  and  in  the  New  World 
laid  the  foundations  of  our  republic.  Like 
Moses,  as  they  said  of  themselves,  they  had 
escaped  from  Egyptian  bondage  to  the 
wilderness,  that  God  might  there  give  them 
the  pattern  of  the  tabernacle.  Like  the 
favored  evangelist,  the  exiles,  in  their  wes- 
tern Fatmos,  listened  to  the  angel  that  dic- 
tated the  new  gospel  of  freedom.  Over- 
whelmed in  Europe,  popular  liberty,  like  the 
fabled  fountain  of  the  sacred  Arethusa, 
gushed  forth  profusely  in  remoter  fields. 


Life  ami   Writhigs 


71 


"  Of  the  nations  of  the  European  world,  the 
chief  emigration  was  from  that  Germanic 
race  most  famed  for  the  love  of  personal 
independence.  Tlie  immense  majority  of 
American  families  were  not  of  *  the  high^folk 
of  Normandie,'  but  were  of  '  the  low  men,* 
who  were  Saxons.  This  is  true  of  New  Eng- 
land ;  it  is  true  of  the  south.  The  Virginians 
were  Anglo  Saxons  in  the  woods  again,  with 
the  inherited  culture  and  intelligence  of  the 
seventeenth  century.  *  The  major  part  of  the 
house  of  burgesses  now  consisted  of  Virgin- 
ians that  never  saw  a  town.*  The  Anglo- 
Saxon  mind,  in  its  serenest  nationality, 
neither  distorted  by  fanaticism,  nor  subdued 
by  superstition,  nor  wounded  by  a  perse- 
cution, nor  excited  by  new  ideas,  but  fondly 
cherishing  the  active  instinct  for  personal 
freedom,  secure  possession,  and  legislative 
power,  such  as  belonged  to  it  before  the 
reformation,  and  existed  independent  of  the 


12 


George  Bancroft 


III 


ill 


reformation,  had  made  its  dwelling  place  in 
the  empire  of  Powhatan.     *     ^     * 

"  The  colonists,  including  their  philosophy 
in  their  religion,  as  the  people  up  to  that  time 
had  always  done,  were  neither  skeptics  nor 
sensualists,  but  Christians.  The  school  that 
bows  to  the  senses  as  the  sole  interpreter  of 
truth,  had  little  share  in  colonizing  our 
America.  The  colonists  from  Maine  to  Caro- 
lina, the  adventurous  companions  of  Smith, 
the  proscribed  Puritans  that  freighted  the 
fleet  of  Winthrop,  the  Quaker  outlaws  that 
fled  from  jails  with  a  Newgate  prisoner  as 
their  sovereign — all  had  faith  in  God  and  in 
the  soul.  The  system  which  had  been 
revealed  in  Judea — the  system  which  com- 
bines and  perfects  the  symbolic  wisdom  of 
the  Orient  and  the  reflective  genius  of 
Greece — the  system,  conforming  to  reason, 
yet  kindling  enthusiasm  ;  always  hastening 
reform,  yet  always  conservative  ;  proclaiming 


Life  and   IVn'tinjrs 


7^ 


absolute  equality  among  men,  yet  not  sud- 
denly abolishing  the  unequal  institutions  of 
society  ;  guaranteeing  absolute  freedom,  yet 
invoking  the  inexorable  restrictions  of  duty  ; 
\\\  the  highest  degree  theoretical,  and  yet  in 
the  highest  degree  practical ;  awakening  the 
inner  man  to  a  consciousness  of  his  destiny, 
and  yet  adapted  with  exact  harmony  to  the 
outward  world  ;  at  once  divine  and  humane 
— this  system  was  professed  in  every  part  of 
our  widely  extended  country  and  cradled  our 
freedom.     *    *    * 

''The  period  through  which  we  have 
passed  shows  why  we  are  a  free  people ;  the 
coming  period  will  show  why  we  are  a 
united  people.  We  shall  have  no  tales  to 
relate  of  more  adventure  than  in  the  early 
period  of  Virginia,  none  of  more  sublimity 
than  of  the  pilgrims  at  Plymouth.  But  we 
are  about  to  enter  on  a  wider  theatre ;  and, 
as  we  trace  the  progress  of  commercial  am- 


n 


74 


George  Bancroft 


bition  through  events  which  shook  the  globe 
from  the  wilds  beyond  the  Alleghanies  to  the 
ancient  abodes  of  civilization  in  Hindostan, 
wc  shall  still  see  ihat  the  selfishness  of  evil 
defeats  itself,  and  God  rules  in  the  affairs  of 
men." 


CHAPTER   V. 

INDIAN   WARS— OBJECT    OF  THE  AUTHORS   OF 
THE  AMERICAN   REVOLUTION. 

Mr.  Bancroft's  second  volume  takes  a  wide 
historical  range,  and  covers  many  series  of 
important  events,  but  our  quotations  must  be 
iimited.  The  descriptions  of  some  of  the 
occurrences  which  took  place  in  New  Eng- 
land during  the  French  and  Indian  wars,  are 
tragic  beyond  invention ;  they  bear  the  stamp 
of  faithful  accounts  of  actual  atrocities  perpe- 
trated by  the  barbarous  foes  of  the  colonists. 

**  Death  hung  on  the  frontier,"  says  the  his- 
torian. "  The  farmers,  that  had  built  their 
dwellings  on  the  bank,  just  above  the  beauti- 


76 


George  Ba)ici'oft 


ful  meadows  of  Deerficld,  had  surrounded 
with  pickets  an  enclosure  of  twenty  acres,  the 
village  citadel.  There  were  separate  dwell- 
ing houses,  likewise  fortified  by  a  circle  of 
sticks  of  timber  set  upright  in  the  ground. 
Their  occupants  knew,  through  the  Mo- 
hawks, that  danger  was  at  hand.  All  that 
winter  there  was  not  a  night  but  the  sentinel 
was  abroad ;  not  a  mother  lulled  her  infant 
to  rfcst  without  fearing  that,  before  morning, 
the  tomahawk  might  crush  its  skull.  The 
snow  lay  four  feet  deep,  when  the  clear, 
invigorating  air  of  midwinter  cheered  the 
war  party  of  about  two  hundred  French  and 
one  hundred  and  forty-two  Indians,  who,  with 
the  aid  of  snow-shoes  and  led  by  Hertel  de 
Rouville,  had  walked  on  the  crust  all  the  way 
from  Canada.  On  the  last  night  in  February 
1704,  a  pine  forest  near  Deerfield  gave  them 
shelter  till  after  midnight.  When,  at  the 
approach  of  morning,  the  unfaithful  sentinels 


iiil 


Life  and  Writings 


17 


retired,  the  war-party  entered  within  the  pal- 
isades, whicli  drifts  of  snow  had  made  useless, 
and  the  war-whoop  of  tlie  savages  bade  each 
family  prepare  for  captivity  or  death.  The 
village  was  set  on  fire,  and  all  but  the  church 
and  one  dwelling  house  were  consumed. 

"  Of  the  inhabitants,  but  few  escaped : 
forty-seven  were  killed  ;  one  hundred  and 
twelve,  including  the  minister  and  his  family, 
were  made  captives.  One  hour  after  sun- 
rise, the  party  began  its  return  to  Canada. 
But  who  would  know  the  horrors  of  that 
winter  march  through  the  wilderness  ?  Two 
men  starved  to  death.  Did  a  young  child 
weep  from  fatigue,  or  a  woman  totter  from 
anguish  under  the  burden  of  her  own  off- 
spring, the  tomahawk  stilled  complaint,  or 
the  infant  was  cast  out  upon  the  snow. 
Eunice  Williams,  the  wife  of  the  minister, 
had  not  forgotten  her  Bible ;  and,  when  they 
rested  by  the  wayside,  or  at  night  made  their 


78 


George  Bancroft 


couch  of  branches  of  evergreen  strewn  on  the 
snow,  the  savages  allowed  her  to  read  it. 
Having  but  recently  recovered  from  con- 
finement, her  strength  soon  failed.  To  her 
husband,  who  reminded  her  of  the  '  house  not 
made  with  hands,  eternal  in  the  heavens,'  *  she 
justified  God  in  what  had  happened.*  The 
mother's  heart  rose  to  her  lips  as  she  com- 
mended her  five  captive  children,  under  God, 
to  their  father's  care  ;  and  then  one  blow 
from  a  tomahawk  ended  her  sorrows.  '  She 
rests  in  peace,*  said  her  husband,  *  and  joy 
unspeakable  and  full  of  glory.*  In  Canada, 
no  entreaties,  no  offers  of  ransom,  could  res- 
cue his  youngest  daughter,  then  a  child  of 
but  seven  years  old.  Adopted  into  the  vil- 
lage of  the  praying  Indians  near  Montreal, 
she  became  a  proselyte  to  the  Catholic  faith, 
and  the  wife  of  a  Cahnewaga  chief.  When, 
after  long  years,  she  visited  her  friends  at 
Deerfield,  she  appeared  in  an  Indian  dress  ; 


Life  and   Writings 


79 


and,  making  a  short  sojourn,  in  spite  of  a  day 
of  fast  of  a  whole  village,  which  assembled  to 
pray  for  her  deliverance,  she  returned  to  the 
fires  of  her  wigwam  and  to  the  love  of  her 
Mohawk  children. 

From  1705  to  1707,  the  prowling  Indian 
stealthily  approached  towns  even  in  the 
heart  of  Massachusetts.  Children,  as  they 
gambolled  on  the  beach  ;  mowers,  as  they 
swung  the  scythe  ;  mothers,  as  they  busied 
themselves  about  the  household — fell  victims 
to  an  enemy  who  was  ever  present  where  a 
garrison  or  a  family  ceased  its  vigilance,  and 
disappeared  after  striking  a  blow. 

"In  1708,  after  a  war-council  at  Montreal, 
the  French,  under  Des  Chaillons  and  Hertel 
de  Rouville,  with  Algonkin  allies,  ascended 
the  St.  Francis,  and,  passing  by  the  White 
Mountains,  having  traveled  near  one  hundred 
and  fifty  leagues,  made  their  rendezvous  at 
Winnipiseogee.     There  they  failed  to  meet 


8o 


George  Bancroft 


I'f 


the  expected  aid  from  the  Abenakis,  and,  in 
consequence,  were  too  feeble  to  attack  Ports- 
mouth ;  they  therefore  descended  the  Merri- 
mack to  the  town  of  Haverhill,  which  was,  at 
that  time,  a  cluster  of  thirty  cottages  and 
log-cabins,  embosomed  in  the  primeval  for- 
ests, near  the  tranquil  Merrimack.  In  the 
center  of  the  settlement  stood  a  new  meeting- 
house, the  pride  of  the  village.  On  the  few 
acres  of  open  land,  the  ripening  Indian  corn 
rose  over  the  charred  stumps  of  trees;  on  the 
north  and  the  west  the  unbroken  wilderness 
stretched  beyond  the  Wliite  Mountains.  On 
the  twenty-ninth  of  August,  evening  prayers 
had  been  offered  in  each  family,  and  the 
village  had  resigned  itself  to  sleep. 

That  night  the  invaders  slept  quietly  in  the 
near  forest.  At  daybreak  they  assumed  the 
order  of  battle ;  Rouville  addressed  the  sol- 
diers, who,  after  their  orisons,  marched 
against  the  fort,  raised  the   shrill   yell,  and 


r 


Life  and  Writinos 


8i 


dispersed  tlieinselvcs  tlirough  tlie  village  to 
tlieir  work  of  blood.  The  rifle  rang  ;  the  cry 
of  the  dying  rose.  Benjamin  Rolfe,  the 
minister,  was  beaten  to  death  ;  one  Indian 
sunk  a  hatchet  deep  into  the  brain  of  his 
wife,  while  another  dashed  the  head  of  his 
infant  child  against  a  stone.  Thomas  Ilarts- 
h(jrn  and  two  of  his  sons,  attempting  a  rally, 
were  shot;  a  third  son  was  tomahawked. 
John  Johnston  was  shot  by  the  side  of  his 
\v'ife ;  she  fled  into  the  garden,  bearing  an 
infant;  was  caught  and  murdered;  but  as 
she  fell,  she  concealed  her  child,  which  was 
found  after  the  massacre,  clinging  to  her 
breast.  Simon  Wainwriiiht  was  killed  at  the 
first  fire.  Mary,  his  wife,  unbarred  the  door; 
with  cheerful  mien  bade  the  savages  enter  ; 
furnished  them  what  they  wished,  and,  when 
they  demanded  money,  she  retired  as  it  to 
'bring  it,'  and,  gathering  up  all  her  children 
save  one,  succeeded  in  escaping. 


*i^> 


82 


George  Bancroft. 


"  As  the  destroyers  retired,  Samuel  Ayer, 
ever  to  be  remembered  in  village  annals,  with 
a  force  which  equaled  but  a  thirteenth  part 
of  the  invaders,  hung  on  their  rear — himself 
a  victim,  yet  rescuing  several  from  captivity. 

"  The  day  was  advanced  when  the  battle 
ended.  The  rude  epitaph  on  the  moss  grown 
stone  tells  where  the  inteoiient  was  made  in 
haste ;  Rolfe,  his  wife  and  child,  fill  one 
grave  ;  in  the  burial-ground  of  the  village,  an 
ancient  mounc  narks  the  resting-place  of  the 
multitude  of  the  slain." 

The  English  revolution  of  1688,  which  was 
the  forerunner  of  the  American  revolution 
of  1776,  formed  an  auspicious  era  in  the  his- 
tory of  .England  and  of  mankind.  Hence- 
forward  the  title  of  the  king  to  the  crown 
was  bound  up  with  the  title  of  the  aristo- 
cracy to  their  privileges,  of  the  people  to 
their  liberties;  it  sprang  from  law,  and  it 
accepted  an  accountability  to  the  nation — 


Life  and  Writings 


83 


accepted  the  right  to  resist  tyranny,  even  by 
dethroning  a  dynasty.  The  fated  period  of 
arbitrary  monarchy  was  come  ;  it  was  denied 
to  be  a  form  of  civil  government.  Nothing, 
it  was  held,  can  bind  freemen  to  obey  any 
government  save  their  own  agreement. 
Political  power  is  a  trust,  and  the  breach  of 
the  trust  dissolves  the  obligation  to  allegi- 
ance. The  supreme  power  is  the  legislature 
to  whose  guardianship  it  has  been  sacredly 
and  unalterably  delegated.  By  the  funda- 
mental law  of  property,  no  taxes  may  be 
levied  on  tlie  people  but  by  their  own 
authorized  agents.  These  political  principles 
were  solidified  into  governmental  axioms  by 
the  English  revolution  of  1688,  audit  was  the 
attempts  to  deprive  the  colonies  of  the  pro- 
tection given  to  freemen  by  these  principles 
that  led  to  the  American  revolution  of  1776 
—  the  scope,  spirit,  philosophy  and  result  of 


I 


i 

i' 


!  I 


t 
I 


I 


i 
i 


84 


George  Bancroft 


which  Mr.  Bancroft  sets  forth  with  unusual 
force  and  eloquence: 

"The  authors  of  the  American  revolution 
avowed  for  their  object  the  welfare  of  man- 
kind, and  believed  that  they  were  in  the  ser- 
vice of  their  own  and  of  all  future  genera- 
tions. Their  faith  was  just;  for  the  world  of 
mankind  does  not  exist  in  fragments,  nor  can 
a  country  have  an  insulated  existence.  All 
men  are  brothers  ;  and  all  are  bondsmen  for 
one  another.  All  nations,  too,  are  brothers ; 
and  each  is  responsible  for  that  federative 
humanity  which  puts  the  ban  of  exclusion  on 
none.  New  principles  of  government  could 
not  assert  themselves  in  one  hemisj)here 
without  affecting  the  other.  The  very  idea 
of  the  progress  of  an  individual  people,  in  its 
relation  to  universal  history,  springs  from 
the  acknowledged  unity  of  the  race.    *    *    * 

**  To  have  asserted  clearly  the  unity  of 
mankind    was   the    distinctive    character   of 


'' 


Life  and   Writiui^s 


85 


the  Christian  religion.  No  more  were  the 
nations  to  be  severed  by  the  worship  of 
exclusive  deities.  They  were  taught  that  all 
men  are  of  one  blood ;  that  for  all  there  is 
but  one  divine  nature  and  but  one  moral 
law;  and  the  renovating  faith  which  made 
known  the  singleness  of  the  race,  embodied 
its  aspirations,  and  guided  its  advancement. 
The  tribes  of  Northern  Europe,  emerging 
freshly  from  the  wild  nurseries  of  nations, 
opened  new  regions  to  culture,  commerce 
and  refinement.  The  beams  of  the  majestic 
temple,  which  antiquity  had  reared  to  its 
many  gods,  were  already  falling  in  ;  roving 
invaders,  taking  to  their  hearts  the  regenerat- 
ing creed,  became  its  intrepid  messengers, 
and  bore  its  symbols  even  t<j  Iceland  and 
Siberia.     *     *     * 

•'  While  the  world  of  mankind  is  accom- 
plishing its  nearer  connection,  it  is  advanc- 
ing  in  the  power    of  its   intelligence.     The 


86 


Geo  roe  Bancroft 


i| 


possession  of  reason  is  the  engagement  for 
that  progress  of  which  history  keeps  the 
record.  The  faculties  of  each  individual 
mind  are  limited  in  their  development ;  the 
reason  of  the  whole  strives  for  perfection,  has 
been  restlessly  forming  itself  from  the  first 
moment  of  human  existenc  ,  and  has  never 
met  bounds  to  its  ':apacity  for  improvement. 
The  generations  of  men  are  not  like  the 
leaves  on  the  trees,  which  fall  and  renew 
themselves  without  melioration  or  change ; 
individuals  disappear  like  the  foliage  and 
the  flowers;  the  existence  of  our  kind  is  con- 
tinuous, and  its  ages  are  reciprocally  depen- 
dent.    *     *     * 

"  It  is  this  idea  of  continuity  which  gives 
vitality  to  history.  No  period  of  time  has  a 
separate  being ;  no  public  opinion  can 
escape  the  influence  of  previous  intelligence. 
We  are  cheered  by  rays  from  former  cen- 
turies, and  live  in  the  sunny  reflection  of  all 


Life  and  IVritit.gs 


87 


tlieir  liglit.  What  though  thought  is  invisi- 
ble, and,  even  when  effective,  seems  as 
transient  as  the  wind  that  drives  the  cloud ! 
It  is  yet  free  and  indestructible  ;  can  as  little 
be  bound  in  chains  as  the  aspiring  flame  ; 
and,  when  once  generated,  takes  eternity  for 
its  guardian.  \Vc  are  the  children  and  the 
heirs  of  the  past,  with  which,  as  with  the 
future,  we  are  indissolubly  linked  together ; 
and  he  tliat  truly  has  sympathy  with  every- 
thiif  J  belonging  to  man,  will,  with  his  toils 
for  d'irity,  blend  affection  for  the  times 
that  are  gone  by,  and  seek  to  live  in  the  life 
of  the  ages.  It  is  by  thankfully  recognizing 
those  ages  as  a  part  of  the  great  existence 
in  which  we  share,  that  history  wins  power 
to  move  the  soul ;  she  comes  to  us  with 
tidings  of  that  which  for  us  still  lives,  of  that 
which  has  become  the  life  of  our  life ;  she 
embalms  and  preserves  for  us  the  life-blood 


fl 


r 


\i 


|: 

1 

If " 

88 


Georoc  Bauer  off 


not  of  master-spirits  only,  but  of  genera- 
tions.    *     *     * 

*'  From  the  intelligence  that  had  been 
slowly  rip'jning  in  the  mind  of  cultivated 
humanity,  sprung  the  American  revolution, 
which  organized  « ojial  union  through  the 
establishment  of  personal  freedom,  and 
emancipate  i  the  nations  from  all  authority 
not  flowing  from  themselves.  *  *  ''^  It 
was  the  office  of  America  to  substitute  for 
hereditary  privilege  the  natural  equality  of 
man ;  for  the  irresponsible  authority  of  a 
sovereign,  a  government  emanating  from  the 
concord  of  opinion  ;  and,  as  she  moved  for- 
ward in  her  high  career,  the  multitude  of 
every  clime  gazed  toward  her  example  with 
hopes  of  untold  happiness,  and  all  the 
nations  of  the  earth  learned  the  way  to  be 
renewed. 

"  The  American  revolution,  essaying  to 
unfold    the   principles    which    organized    its 


i 


Life  and   IVri/iui^s 


89 


events,   and    bound    to   keep   faith  with  the 
ashes  of  its  heroes,  was  most  radical  in  its 
character,   yet   achieved    with    such    benign 
tranquility  that  even   conservatism  hesitated 
to  censure.      *     *     *      Xhe  equality   of   all 
men  was  declared,  personal  freedom  secured 
in  its  complete  individuality,   and  common 
consent  recognized  as  the  only  just  origin  of 
fundamental   laws  ;  so  that  in  thirteen  sepa- 
rate states,  with  ample  territory  for  creating 
more,  the  inhabitants  of  each   formed  their 
own  political  institutions.     By    the   side   of 
the  principle  of  the  freedom  of  the  individual 
and  the   freedom  of  the  separate  states,  the 
noblest  work  of  human  intellect  was  consum- 
mated in  a  federal  union  ;  and  that  union  put 
away   every    motive    to   its   destruction    by 
insuring  to  each  successive  generation   the 
right  to  amend  its  constitution  according  to 
the    increasing    intelligence    of    the    living 
people.     Astonishing  deeds  throughout   the 


90 


George  Bancroft 


I 


globe  attended  these  changes.     •>*     *    ^^     For 
America,  the  period  abounded  in  new  forms 
of  virtue  and  greatness.     Fidelity  to  principle 
pervaded  the  masses  ;  an  unorganized  pe(jple, 
of  their  own  free  will,  suspended  commerce 
by  universal  assent ;  poverty  rejected  bribes. 
Heroism,  greater  than  that  of  chivalry,  burst 
into  action   from  lowly   men  ;  citizens,  with 
their   families,    fled    from    their    homes   and 
wealth  in  towns,  rather  than  yield  to  oppres 
sion.     Battalions  sprung  up  in  a  night  from 
spontaneous      patriotism ;     where      eminent 
<»tatesmen  hesitated,  the  instinctive  action  of 
the  multitude  revealed  the  counsels  of  mag- 
nanimity ;   youth   and   genius  gave   up   lite 
freely  for  the  liberties  of  mankind.     A  nation 
without  union,  without  magazines  and  arse- 
nals, without  a  treasury,  without  credit,  with- 
out government,  fought  successfully  against 
the  whole  strength  and  wealth  of  Great  Brit- 


Life  and  Writings 


9« 


ain  ;  an  army  of  veteran  soldiers  capitulated 
to  insurgent  husbandmen. 

"  Europe  could  not  watch  with  indifference 
the  spectacle.  The  oldest  aristocracy  of 
France,  the  proudest  nobles  of  I'oland,  the 
bravest  hearts  of  Germany,  sent  tlicir  repre- 
sentatives to  act  as  the  peers  of  i)lebeians,  to 
die  gloriously,  or  to  live  beloved,  as  the 
champions  of  humanity  and  freedom  ;  Kussia 
and  the  northern  nations  shielded  the  young 
republic  by  an  armed  neutrality ;  while  the 
Catholic  and  feudal  monarchies  of  France 
and  Spain,  children  ot  the  middle  age,  were 
wr)nderfully  swayed  to  open  the  gates  of 
futurity  to  the  new  empire  of  democracy;  so 
that,  in  human  affairs,  God  never  showed 
more  visibly  his  gracious  providence  and 
love." 


IMAGE  EVALUATION 
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1.6 

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Photographic 

Sciences 
Corporation 


23  WEST  MAIN  STREET 

WEBSTER,  N.Y.  14580 

(716)  872-4503 


;  i 


CHAPTER   VI. 

WASHINGTON'S     CAREER     AND     CHARACTER— 
TRIUMTH    OV   THE   AMERICAN    REVOLUTION. 

The  third  volume  ot  the  history  covers  the 
period  from  1763  (when  Great  Britain 
acquired  possession,  by  treaty,  of  the  French 
possessions  in  America,  which  she  had  aheady 
wrested  from  France  by  conquest)  to  1774, 
when  England  took  the  step  which  alienated 
the  colonies.  The  subject  of  the  volume  is 
the  estrangement  of  America  from  Great 
Britain.  This  portion  of  American  history  is 
given  in  our  school-books,  and,  so  far  as  its 
salient  points  are  concerned,  it  is  so  familiar 
to  the  reading  public  that  it  will  not  be 
dwelt  upon  here.     The  fourth  volume  treats 


I      ' 


Life  a7id  Writi7igs 


93 


of  the  events  which  occurred  between  May, 
1774,  and  July,  1776.  On  the  tenth  of  May, 
1774,  which  was  the  day  of  the  accession  of 
Louis  XVI.,  the  act  closing  the  port  of  Bos- 
ton reached  the  devoted  town.  The  act 
transferred  the  board  of  customs  to  Marble- 
head  and  the  seat  of  government  to  Salem. 
The  king  was  confident  that  the  slow  torture 
which  was  to  be  applied  to  the  inhabitants 
of  Boston  would  constrain  them  to  cry  for 
mercy  and  promise  unconditional  obedience. 
Success  in  resistance  could  come  only  from 
an  American  union,  which  the  king  and  his 
counselors  did  not  believe  to  be  possible.  It 
was  confidently  asserted  that  the  other 
colonies  would  not  peril  their  own  interests 
by  supporting  Massachusetts.  Never  were 
king  and  counselors  more  mistaken.  As  the 
news  of  Boston's  suffering  and  fortitude 
spread  through  the  land,  the  people  of  every 
colony  rallied  to  her  support.     The  hour  of 


■■■( 

f 
I 

I 


n 


rr 


94 


George  Bancroft 


the  American  revolution  was  come.  The 
people  of  the  continent  obeyed  one  general 
impulse,  as  the  earth  in  spring  listens  to  the 
mandate  ot  nature  and  without  the  appear- 
ance of  effort  bursts  into  life.  The  move- 
ment was  quickened  by  the  efforts  made  to 
intimidate  its  supporters.  The  arrival  of 
British  troops  and  British  vessels  of  war  in 
Boston  aroused  the  people  to  a  more  firm-set 
purpose  of  resistance.  A  general  congress 
was  proposed ;  delegates  were  elected  ;  and 
on  September  5,  1774,  the  first  American 
Congress  met  at  Philadelphia.  The  current 
of  events  now  moved  with  constantly 
increasing  rapidity  and  momentum,  and  Mr. 
Bancroft  develops  the  narrative  with  great 
amplitude,  clearness  and  power.  Lexington, 
Concord,  Bunker  Hill,  the  uprising  of  a  great 
people,  the  convening  of  the  Continental 
Congress,  the  election  of  Washington  as 
commander-in-chief  of  the  Continental  army 


T^ife  a7id  Writings 


95 


follow  swiftly  and  are  described  in  the  histo- 
rian's most  philosophical  and  picturesque 
style.  His  sketch  of  Washington  will  be 
read  with  delight  by  every  lover  of  liberty ; 

"  Washington  was  then  [June  15,  1775] 
forty-three  years  of  age.  In  stature  he  a 
little  exceeded  six  feet ;  his  limbs  were  sinewy 
and  well-proportioned  ;  his  chest  broad ;  his 
figure  stately,  blending  dignity  of  presence 
with  ease.  His  robust  constitution  had  been 
tried  and  invigorated  by  his  early  life  in  the 
wilderness,  the  habit  of  occupation  out  of 
doors  and  rigid  temperance ;  so  that  few 
equaled  him  in  strength  of  arm,  or  power  of 
endurance,  or  noble  horsemanship.  His 
complexion  was  florid  ;  his  hair  dark  brown  ; 
his  head  in  its  shape  perfectly  round.  His 
broad  nostrils  seemed  lormed  to  give  escape 
to  scornful  anger.  The  lines  of  his  eyebrows 
were  long  and  finely  arched.  His  dark-blue 
eyes,  which  were  deeply  set,  had  an  expres- 


96 


George  Baiurojt 


J   Hi 


sion  of  resignation,  and  an  earnestness  that 
was  almost  pensiveness.  His  forehead  was 
sometimes  marked  with  thought,  but  never 
with  inquietude  ;  his  countenance  was  pleas- 
ing and  full  of  benignity. 

"  At  eleven  years  old  left  to  the  care  of  an 
excellent  but  unlettered  mother,  he  grew 
up  without  learning.  Of  arithmetic  and 
geometry  he  acquired  just  knowledge 
enough  to  be*  able  to  practice  measuring 
land  ;  but  all  his  instruction  at  school  taught 
him  not  so  much  as  the  orthography  or  rules 
of  grammar  of  his  own  tongue.  His  culture 
was  altogether  his  own  work ;  yet  from 
early  life  he  never  seemed  uneducated.  At 
sixteen  he  went  info  the  wilderness  as  a 
surveyor,  and  for  three  years  continued  the 
pursuit,  where  the  forests  trained  him,  in 
meditative  solitude,  to  freedom  and  large- 
ness of   mind ;  and   nature    revealed   to  him 


her  obedience  to  serene  and  silent  laws.     In 


Life  and  IVrilingt 


97 


his  intervals  from  toil  he  seemed  always  to 
be  attracted  to  the  society  of  the  best  men, 
and  to  be  cherished  by  them.  Fairfax,  his 
employer,  an  Oxford  scholar,  already  aged, 
became  his  fast  friend.  He  read  little,  but 
with  close  attention.  Whatever  he  took  in 
hand  he  applied  himself  to  with  care  ;  and 
his  papers,  which  have  been  preserved,  show 
how  he  almost  imperceptibly  gained  the 
power  of  writing  correctly,  always  express- 
ing himself  with  clearness  and  directness, 
often  with  a  happy  choice  of  language,  and 
with  grace. 

"  When  the  frontiers  on  the  West  became 
disturbed,  he  at  nineteen  was  commissioned 
an  adjutant-general  with  the  rank  of  major. 
At  twenty-one  he  went  as  the  envoy  of 
Virginia  to  the  council  of  Indian  chiefs  on 
the  Ohio,  and  to  the  French  officers  near 
Lake  Erie.  Fame  waited  upon  him  from  his 
youth  ;  and   no   one   of  his   colony   was  so 


98 


George  Bayicroft 


'if 


j 


much  spoken  of.  He  conducted  the  first 
military  expedition  from  Virginia  that 
cross  :!  the  Alleghanics.  Braddock  selected 
him  as  an  aid,  and  he  was  the  only  man  who 
came  out  of  the  disastrous  defeat  near  the 
Monongahela  with  increased  reputation, 
which  extended  to  England.     *     *    * 

"  Courage  was  so  natural  to  him  that  it 
was  hardly  spoken  of ;  no  one  ever  at  any 
moment  of  his  life  discovered  in  him  the 
least  shrinking  in  danger ;  and  he  had  a 
hardihood  of  daring  which  escaped  notice, 
because  it  was  enveloped  by  calmness  and 
wisdom.     *     -^    * 

**  K's  faculties  were  so  well  balanced  and 
combined  that  his  constitution,  free  from 
excess,  was  tempered  evenly  with  all  the 
elements  of  activity,  and  his  mind  resembled 
a  well-ordered  commonwealth ;  his  passions, 
which  had  the  intensest  vigor,  owned  allegi- 
ance to  reason  ;  and,  with  all  the  fiery  quick- 


Life  a7id  VVn tings 


99 


ness  of  his  spirit,  his  impetuous  and  massive 
will  was  held  in  check  by  consummate  judg- 
ment. He  had  in  his  composition  a  calm 
which  gave  him  in  moments  of  highest 
excitement  the  power  of  self-control,  and 
enabled  him  to  excel  in  patience,  even  when 
he  had  most  cause  for  disgust.  Washington 
was  offered  a  command  when  there  was  little 
to  bring  out  the  unorganized  resources  of 
the  continent  but  his  own  influence,  and 
authority  was  connected  with  the  people  by 
the  most  frail,  most  attenuated,  scarcely  dis- 
cernible threads ;  yet,  vehement  as  was 
his  nature,  impassioned  as  was  his  courage, 
he  so  restrained  his  ardor  that  he  never 
failed  continuously  to  exert  that  influence, 
and  never  exerted  it  so  sharply  as  to  break 
its  force. 

"  His  faculty  of  secrecy,  in  which  he  was 
unsurpassed,  had  the  character  of  prudent 
reserve,    not    of     concealment.     His    great 


TOO 


George  Bancroft 


'f 


31 


natural  power  of  vigilance  had  been  devel- 
oped by  his  life  in  the  wilderness. 

"  His  understanding  was  lucid  and  his  judg- 
ment accurate,  so  that  his  conduct  never 
betrayed  hurry  or  confusion.  No  detail  was 
too  minute  for  his  personal  inquiry  and  con- 
tinued supervision ;  and  at  the  same  time  he 
comprehended  events  in  their  widest  aspects 
and  relations.  He  never  seemed  above  the 
object  that  engaged  his  attention,  and  he  was 
always  equal,  without  an  efTort,  to  the  solu- 
tion of  the  highest  questions  affecting  the  des- 
tiny of  mankind,  even  when  there  existed  no 
precedents  to  guide  his  decision.  In  the  per- 
fection of  the  reflective  powers  he  had  no  peer. 

*'  In  this  way  he  never  drew  to  himself  admir- 
ation  for  the  possession  of  any  one  quality 
in  excess,  he  never  made  in  council  any  one 
suggestion  that  was  sublime  but  impractica- 
ble, never  in  action  took  to  himself  the  praise 
or  the  blame  of  undertakings  astonishing  in 


Life  and  Writings 


lOI 


conception,  but  beyond  his  means  of  execu- 
tion. It  was  the  most  wonderful  accomplish- 
ment of  this  man  that,  placed  upon  the  largest 
theatre  of  events,  at  the  head  of  the  greatest 
revolution  in  human  affairs,  he  never  failed 
to  observe  all  that  was  possible,  and  at  the 
same  time  to  bound  his  endeavors  by  that 
which  was  possible. 

"  A  slight  tinge  in  his  character,  percepti- 
ble only  to  the  close  observer,  revealed  the 
region  from  which  he  sprung,  and  he  might 
be  described  as  the  best  specimen  of  man- 
hood as  developed  in  Virginia  ;  but  his  qual- 
ities were  so  faultlessly  proportioned  that  the 
whole  people  rather  claimed  him  as  its 
choicest  representative,  the  most  complete 
expression  of  all  its  attainments  and  aspir- 
ations. He  studied  his  country  and 
conformed  to  it,  not  from  calculation,  but 
from  a  sincere,  ever-active  benevolence  and 
sympathy.     His  countrymen  felt  that  he  was 


I02 


George  Ba7icroft 


I 


.ir 
I 


the  best  type  of  America  ;  they  lived  in  his 
life,  and  made  his  success  and  his  praise  ^heir 
own. 

"  Profoundly  impressed  with  confidence  in 
God's  providence,  and  exemplary  \\\  his 
respect  for  the  forms  of  public  worship,  no 
philosopher  of  the  eighteenth  century  was 
more  firm  in  the  support  of  freedom  of  religi- 
ous opinion,  none  more  remote  from  bigotry ; 
but  belief  in  God  and  trust  in  his  overruling 
power  formed  the  essence  of  his  character. 
Divine  wisdom  not  only  illumines  the  spirit, 
it  inspires  the  will.  Washington  was  a  man 
of  action  ;  his  creed  appears  in  his  life  ;  pro- 
fessions burst  from  him  ver}^  rarely,  and  only 
at  those  great  moments  of  crisis  in  the  for- 
tunes of  his  country  when  earth  and  heaven 
seemed  actually  to  meet,  and  his  emotions 
became  too  intense  for  suppression  ;  but  his 
whole  being  was  one  continued  act  of  faith  iii 
the  eternal,  intelligent,  moral  order  of  the 


Life  and  Writings 


103 


universe.  Integrity  was  so  completely  the 
law  of  his  nature  that  a  planet  would  sooner 
have  shot  from  its  sphere  than  he  have 
departed  from  his  uprightness,  which  was  so 
constant  that  it  often  seemed  to  be  almost 
impersonal.  *  His  integrity  was  the  most 
pure,  his  justice  the  most  inflexible  I  have 
ever  known,'  writes  Jefferson,  *  no  motives  of 
interest  or  consanguinity,  of  friendship  or 
hatred,  being  able  to  bias  his  decision.* 

"  They  say  of  Giotto  that  he  introduced 
goodness  into  the  art  of  painting  ;  Washing- 
ton carried  it  with  him  to  the  camp  and  the 
cabinet,  and  established  a  new  criterion  of 
human  greatness.  The  purity  of  his  will 
confirmed  his  fortitude  ;  and,  as  he  never 
faltered  in  his  faith  in  virtue,  he  stood  fast  by 
that  which  he  knew  to  be  just ;  free  from 
illusions ;  never  dejected  by  the  apprehension 
of  the  difficulties  and  perils  that  went  before 
him,   and   drawing   the   promise   of   success 


!i. 


. 


J 

i  \ 

■ 

[ 

I    i 

'    1 

I' 


104 


George  Bancroft 


from  the  justice  of  his  cause.  Hence  he  was 
persevering,  leaving  nothing  unfinished ; 
devoid  of  all  taint  of  obstinacy  in  his  firm- 
ness ;  seeking  and  gladly  receiving  advice, 
but  immovable  in  his  devotedness  to  right. 

"Of  a  *  retiring  modesty  and  habitual 
reserve,*  his  ambition  was  no  more  than  the 
consciousness  of  power,  and  was  subordinate 
to  his  sense  of  duty ;  he  took  the  foremost 
place,  for  he  knew  from  inborn  magnanimity 
that  it  belonged  to  him,  and  he  dared  not 
withhold  the  service  required  of  him  ;  so 
that,  with  all  his  humility,  he  was  by  necessity 
the  first,  though  never  for  himself  or  for  pri- 
vate ends.  He  loved  fame,  the  approval  of 
com^mg  generations,  tlie  good  opinion  of  his 
fellow-men  of  his  own  time,  and  he  desired  to 
make  his  conduct  coincide  with  their  wishes; 
but  not  fear  of  censure,  not  the  prospect  of 
applause,  could  temi)t  him  to  swerve  from 
rectitude,  and  the  praise  which  he  coveted 


11 


i 


Life  a7id  Writings 


105 


was  the  sympathy  of  that  moral  sentiment 
which  delights  in  uprightness. 

"  There  have  been  soldiers  who  have 
achieved  mightier  victories  in  the  field,  and 
made  conquests  more  nearly  corresponding 
to  the  boundlessness  of  selfish  ambition ; 
statesmen  who  have  been  connected  with 
more  startling  upheavals  of  society  ;  but  it  is 
the  greatness  of  Washington  that  in  public 
trusts  he  used  power  solely  for  the  public 
good  ;  that  he  was  the  life  and  moderator 
and  stay  of  the  most  momentous  revolution 
in  human  affairs,  its  moving  impulse  and  its 
restraining  power.  Combining  the  centri- 
petal and  the  centrifugal  forces  in  their 
utmost  strength  and  in  perfect  relations,  with 
creative  grandeur  of  instinct  he  held  ruin  in 
check,  and  renewed  and  perfected  the  insti- 
tutions of  his  country.  Finding  the  colonies 
disconnected  and  dependent,  he  left  them 
such   a   united   and    well-ordered    common- 


i 


i 


III 


i!ii 


1 06 


George  Bancroft 


wealth  as  no  visionary  had  believed  to  be 
possible.  So  that  it  has  been  truly  said : 
'  He  was  as  fortunate  as  great  and  good.' 

"  This  also  is  the  praise  of  Washington  : 
that  never  in  the  tide  of  time  has  any  man 
lived  who  had  in  so  great  a  degree  the  almost 
divine  faculty  to  command  the  trust  of  his 
fellowmen  and  rule  the  willing.  Wherever 
he  became  known,  in  his  family,  his  neighbor- 
hood, his  county,  his  native  state,  the  conti- 
nent, the  camp,  civil  life,  among  the  common 
people,  in  foreign  courts,  throughout  the 
civilized  world,  and  even  among  the  savages, 
he  beyond  all  other  men  had  the  confidence 
of  his  kind. 

"  Washington  saw  at  a  glance  the  difficul- 
ties of  the  position  to  which  he  had  been 
chosen.  *  -5^  *  He  knew  that  he  must 
depend  for  success  on  a  steady  continuance 
of  purpose  in  an  imperfectly  united  continent, 
and  on  his  personal  influence  OYQr  separate 


Lffc  and   Writings 


lo: 


and  half-formed  governments,  with  most  of 
which  he  was  wholly  unacquainted.  He 
foresaw  a  long  and  arduous  struggle;  but  a 
secret  consciousness  of  his  power  bade  him 
not  to  fear ;  and  he  never  admitted  the 
thought  of  sheathing  his  sword  or  resigning 
his  command  till  the  work  of  vindicating 
American  liberty  should  be  done.  To  his 
wife  he  unbosomed  his  inmost  mind :  *  1 
hope  my  undertaking  this  service  is  designed 
to  answer  some  good  ^urpose.  1  rely  con- 
fidently on  that  Providence  which  has  hither- 
fore  preserved  and  been  bountiful  to  me.' 

"  His  acceptance  changed  the  aspect  of 
affairs.  John  Adams,  looking  with  compla- 
cency upon  *  the  modest  and  virtuous,  the 
amiable,  generous  and  brave  general,'  as  the 
choice  of  Massachusetts,  said  :  *  This  appoint- 
ment will  have  a  great  effect  in  cementing  the 
union  of  these  colonies.  The  general  is  one 
of    the    most   important    characters    of    the 


['J 


'^ 


is: 


1 08 


George  Bancroft 


world;  upon  him  depend  the  liberties  of 
America.  All- hearts  turned  with  affection 
toward  Washington.  This  is  he  who  was 
raised  up  to  be,  not  the  head  of  a  party,  but 
the  father  of  his  country." 

From  this  point  the  history  o.  the  United 
States  is  so  familiar  to  the  American  people 
that  further  quotations  from  the  narrative 
portions  of  Mr.  Bancroft's  great  work  (which 
I  wish  was  owned  and  read  by  every  intelli- 
gent family  in  the  United  States)  will  be 
foregone.  His  sixth  volume  is  devoted  to 
the  history  of  *'  The  Formation  of  the  Con- 
stitution of  the  United  States  of  America." 
It  is  to  be  feared  that  although  this  volume 
is  in  many  respects  the  most  valuable  por- 
tion of  Mr.  Bancroft's  history,  it  is  the  vol- 
ume which  will  be  least  read. 

In  presenting  his  subject,  the  historian 
says : 

"  The  order  of  time  brings  us  to  the  most 


Life  and  IVritmgs 


109 


cheering  act  in  the  political  history  of  man- 
kind, when  thirteen  republics,  of  which  at 
least  three  reached  from  the  sea  to  the  Mis- 
sissippi, formed  themselves  into  one  federal 
commonwealth.  There  was  no  revolt 
against  the  past,  but  a  persistent  and  healthy 
progress.  The  sublime  achievement  was  the 
work  of  a  people  led  by  statesmen  of  earn- 
estness, perseverance  and  public  spirit, 
instructed  by  the  widest  experience  in  the 
forms  of  representative  government,  and 
warmed  by  that  mutual  love  which  proceeds 
from  ancient  connection,  harmonious  effort  in 
perils,  and  common  aspirations." 

The  Constitution  having  been  evolved  and 
adopted,  Washington  having  been  elected 
President  of  the  Union,  and  all  things  being 
in  readiness  to  organize  the  government,  Mr. 
Bancroft  says  : 

'*  The  philosophy  of  the  people  of  the 
United  States  was  neither  that  of  optimism 


no 


George  Bancroft 


i 


nor  of  despair.  Believing  in  the  justice  of 
*  the  Great  Governor  of  the  world,*  and  con- 
scious of  their  own  honest  zeal  in  the  cause 
of  freedom  and  mankind,  they  looked  with 
astonishment  at  their  present  success  and  at 
the  future  with  unclouded  hope. 

"  The  election  to  the  presidency  found 
Washington  prepared  with  a  federal  policy, 
which  was  the  result  of  long  meditation.  He 
was  resolved  to  preserve  freedom  ;  never  to 
transcend  the  powers  delegated  by  the  con- 
stitution ;  even  at  the  cost  of  life  to  uphold 
the  union,  a  sentiment  which  in  him  had  a 
tinge  of  anxiety  from  his  thorough  acquaint- 
ance with  what  Grayson  called  *  the  southern 
genius  of  America  ;*  to  restore  the  public 
finances ;  to  establish  in  the  foreign  relations 
of  the  country  a  thoroughly  American 
system ;  and  to  preserve  neutrality  in  the 
impending  conflicts  between  nations  in 
Europe. 


ii 


Life  and  Writings 


II I 


••  Across  the  Atlantic  Alfieri  cried  out  to 
him  :  '  Happy  are  you  who  have  for  the  sub- 
lime and  permanent  basis  of  your  glory,  the 
love  of  country  demonstrated  by  deeds.* 

"  On  the  fourteenth  of  April  (1789)  he 
received  the  official  announcement  of  his 
recall  to  the  public  service,  and  was  at  ten 
o'clock  on  tlie  morning  of  the  sixteenth  on 
his  way.  Though  reluctant  *  in  the  evening 
of  life  to  exchange  a  peaceful  abode  for  an 
ocean  of  difficulties,'  he  bravely  said  :  '  Be 
the  voyage  long  or  short,  although  1  may  be 
deserted  by  all  men,  integrity  and  firmness 
shall  never  forsake  me.' 

"  But  for  him  the  country  could  not  have 
achieved  its  independence  ;  but  for  him  it 
could  not  have  formed  its  union;  and  but  for 
him  it  could  not  have  set  the  federal  govern- 
ment in  successful  motion.  His  journey  to 
New  York  was  one  continued  march  of 
triumph.     All   the   way   he    was    met    with 


!tl 


I  12 


George  Ba^icroft 


addresses  from  the  citizens  of  various  towns, 
from  societies,  universities  and  churches. 

"  On  the  thirtieth,  the  day  appointed  for 
the  inauguration,  Washington,  being  fifty- 
seven  years,  two  months,  and  eight  days  old, 
was  ceremoniously  received  by  the  two 
houses  in  the  hall  of  the  senate.  Stepping 
out  to  the  middle  compartment  of  a  balcony, 
which  had  been  raised  in  front  of  it,  he  found 
before  him  a  dense  throng,  extending  to 
Broad  street  and  filling  Wall  street  to 
Broadway.  All  were  hushed  as  Livingston, 
the  chancellor  of  the  state,  administered  the 
oath  of  office ;  but  when  he  cried,  '  Long 
live  George  Washington,  President  of  the 
United  States!'  the  air  was  rent  with  huzzas, 
which  were  repeated  as  Washington  bowed 
to  the  multitude. 

"  Then  returning  to  the  senate  chamber, 
with  an  aspect  grave  almost  to  sadness,  and 
a  voice  deep   and   tremulous,   he    addressed 


'i  I 


Life  and   U^rt tings 


113 


red 

)er, 
ind 
jed 


the  two  houses,  confessing  his  distrust  of  his 
own  endowments  and  his  inexperience  in 
civil  administration.  The  magnitude  and 
difficulty  of  the  duties  to  which  his  country 
had  called  him,  weighed  upon  him  so  heavily 
that  he  shook  as  he  proceeded:  **  It  would 
be  peculiarly  improper  to  omit,  in  this  official 
act,  my  fervent  supplications  to  that 
Almighty  Being  who  presides  in  the  councils 
of  nations,  that  his  benediction  may  conse- 
crate to  the  liberties  and  happiness  of  the 
people  of  the  United  States  a  government 
instituted  by  themselves.  No  people  can  be 
bound  to  acknowledge  the  invisible  hand 
which  conducts  the  affairs  of  men  more 
than  the  people  of  the  United  States.  Every 
step  by  which  they  have  advanced  to  the 
character  of  an  independent  nation  seems  to 
have  been  distinguished  by  some  token  of 
providential  agency.  There  exists  in  the 
economy   of   nature   an    indissoluble    union 


Is 


114 


George  Bancroft 


J 


,   ii 


i     1 


! 

I 


between  an  honest  and  magnanimous  policy 
and  public  prosperity.  Heaven  can  never 
smile  on  a  nation  that  disregards  the  eternal 
rules  of  order  and  right.  The  preservation 
of  liberty,  and  the  destiny  of  the  republican 
model  of  government,  are  justly  considered 
as  deeply,  perhaps  as  finally,  staked  on  the 
experiment  intrusted  to  the  American 
people. 

"At  the  close  of  the  ceremony  the  presi- 
dent and  both  branches  of  congress  were 
escorted  to  the  church  of  St  Paul,  where 
the  chaplain  of  the  senate  read  prayers 
suited  to  the  occasion,  after  which  they  all 
attended  the  president  to  his  mansion. 

"  Every  one  without  exception,  so 
reports  the  French  minister  to  his  govern- 
ment, appeared  penetrated  with  veneration 
for  the  illustrious  chief  of  the  republic.  The 
humblest  was  proud  of  the  virtues  of  the 
man  who  was  to  govern  him.     Tears,  of  joy 


Life  and  Writiiigs 


^15 


were  seen  to  flow  in  the  hall  of  the  senate, 
at  church,  and  even  in  the  streets,  and  no 
sovereign  ever  reigned  more  completely  in 
the  hearts  of  his  subjects  than  Washington 
in  the  hearts  of  his  fellow-citizens.  Nature, 
which  had  given  him  the  talent  to  govern, 
distinguished  him  from  all  others  by  his 
appearance.  He  had  at  once  the  soul,  the 
look  and  the  figure  of  a  hero.  He  never 
appeared  embarrassed  at  homage  rendered 
him,  and  in  his  manners  he  had  the  advan- 
tage of  joining  dignity  10  great  simplicity. 

**  In  the  same  moments  of  the  fifth  day  of 
May,  1789,  when  these  words  were  reported, 
the  ground  was  trembling  beneath  the  arbi- 
trary governments  of  Europe  as  Lonis  XVI. 
proceeded  to  open  the  states-general  of 
France.  The  day  of  wrath,  against  which 
Leibnitz  had  warned  the  monarchs  of  Europe, 
was  beginning  to  break,  and  its  judgments 
were  to  be  the  more   terrible  for  the  long 


I 


ii6 


George  Ba?icro/t 


{ ■> 


\ 


delay  of  its  coining.  The  great  Frederick, 
who  alone  of  them  all  had  lived  and  toiled 
for  the  good  of  his  land,  described  the 
degeneracy  and  insignificance  of  his  fellow- 
rulers  with  cynical  scorn.  Not  one  of  them 
had  a  surmise  that  the  only  sufficient  reason 
for  the  existence  of  a  king  lies  in  his  useful- 
ness to  the  people.  *  *  *  The  monarchs, 
whose  imbecility  or  excesses  had  brought 
the  doom  of  death  on  arbitrary  power,  were 
not  only  unfit  to  rule,  but,  while  their  own 
unlimited  sovereignty  was  stricken  with 
death,  they  knew  not  how  to  raise  up  states- 
men to  take  their  places.  Well-intentioned 
friends  of  mankind  burned  with  indignation, 
and  even  the  wise  and  prudent  were  incensed 
by  the  conscious  endurance  of  wrong ;  wliile 
the  lowly  classes,  clouded  by  despair,  were 
driven  sometimes  to  admit  the  terrible 
thought  that  religion,  which  is  the  poor  man's 
consolation   and   defence,   might   be  but  an 


Life  and  Writings 


117 


instrument  of  government  in  the  hands  of 
tlieir  oppressors.  Tlicrc  was  no  relief  for 
the  nations  but  through  revolution,  and  their 
masters  had  poisoned  the  weapons  which 
revolution  must  use. 

•*  In  America  a  new  people  had  risen  up 
without  king,  or  princes,  or  nobles,  knowing 
nothing  of  tithes  and  little  of  landlords,  the 
plough  being  for  the  most  part  in  the  hands 
of  free  holders  of  the  soil.  They  were  more 
sincerely  religious,  better  educated,  of  serener 
minds,  and  of  purer  morals  than  the  men  of 
any  former  republic.  By  calm  meditation 
and  friendly  councils  they  had  prepared  a 
constitution  which,  in  the  union  of  freedom 
with  strength  and  order,  excelled  every  one 
known  before ;  and  which  secured  itself 
against  violence  and  revolution  by  providing 
a  peaceful  method  for  every  needed  reform. 
In  the  happy  morning  of  their  existence  as 
one  of  the  powers  of  the   world,  they   had 


I  lii: 


|i  '' 

jl ' 

If  ^  , ; 

ll 

ii8 


George  Bancroft 


chosen  justice  for  their  guide  ;  and  while 
they  proceeded  on  their  way  with  well- 
founded  confidence  and  joy,  all  the  friends 
of  mankind  invoked  success  on  the  unex- 
ampled endeavor  to  govern  states  and  terri- 
tories of  imperial  extent  as  one  federal  repub- 
lic." 

Here  we  bid  adieu  to  Mr.  Bancroft's  great 
historical  work.  It  is  earnestly  to  be  hoped 
that  our  presentation  of  it  will  inspire  in 
many  readers  a  desire  to  possess  it,  to  study 
it,  and  to  appreciate  its  inestimable  value 
to  every  lover  of  American  liberty. 

In  next  week's  Ledger  we  shall  give  an 
account  of  one  of  the  most  interesting  por- 
tions of  Mr.  Bancroft's  literary  career. 


I 


CHAPTER  VII. 


^'r,*t 


MR.  BANCROFT  S  CONTRIBUTIONS  TO  THE  NEW 

YORK  LEDGER. 

The  popularity  which  Edward  Everett 
won  among  the  masses  of  the  people  by  his 
"  Mount  Vernon  Papers  "  and  other  contribu- 
tions to  the  New  York  Ledger^  which  were 
continued  to  the  time  of  his  death,  made  a 
deep  impression  on  Mr.  Bancroft's  mind.  In 
the  sketch  of  Eve-  ett  which  he  wrote  for  the 
Ledger,  he  referred  in  eloquent  language  to 
the  **  Mount  Vernon  Papers,"  saying  :  "  Mis 
[Mr.  Everett's]  zeal  in  this  cause  led  him  to 
accept  the  munificent  invitation  of  the  Led- 
ger^ and  when  he  had  in  that  way  become 
accustomed  to  discourse  to  a  cloud  of  listen- 


K 


■  i: 


if 
I  i 


I 


T20 


Gcoj^ge  Bancroft 


h 


ers  whose  number  was  incalculable,  his  love 
ot  sympathy  assisted  to  make  that  journal  his 
favorite  way  of  access  to  the  public. 

Mr.  Bancroft  was  acutely  conscious  of  the 
value  of  an  opportunity  to  "  discourse  to  a 
cloud  of  listeners  whose  number  was  incal- 
culable." He  wrote  to  Mr.  Robert  Bonner, 
then  the  proprietor  and  editor  of  the  Ledger^ 
and,  after  referring  to  Mr.  Everett's  contri- 
bution, suggested  that  he  himself  could 
furnish  articles  for  the  Ledger  of  popular 
interest.  This  led  to  his  engagement  as  a 
contributor  to  the  Ledger,  and  he  soon  sent 
in,  as  his  first  contribution,  an  article,  in 
three  parts,  entitled  *'  Oliver  Hazard  Perry 
and  the  Battle  of  Lake  Erie." 

I  well  remember  that  article.  The  manu- 
script was  rendered  so  illegible  by  number- 
less erasures  and  interlineations  that  the 
compositors  and  the  foreman  in  the  printing- 
office  could  not  read  it,  and  I  was  obliged 


Life  and  Writings 


121 


to  decipher  and  rewrite  it  before  the  article 
could  be  put  in  type.  It  was  written  on 
sheets  of  paper  about  eight  inches  long  and 
six  inches  wide.  In  the  first  draft  four  lines 
were  written,  widely  apart,  on  each  page. 
In  the  completed  article  hardly  one  of  the 
original  significant  words  were  left,  and  all 
manner  of  interlineations  were  scrawled 
upon  the  page,  often  without  any  mark  to 
indicate  the  order  in  which  the3^  were  to  fol- 
low one  another.  It  was  interesting  to  trace 
the  changes  which  a  phrase  underwent  from 
its  first  expression  to  the  last  finishing  touch 
which  set  the  stamp  of  superlative  excellence 
upon  it.  Original  words  would  be  stricken 
out  and  synonyms  substituted.  Then  the 
substitutes  would  be  eraced,  and  new  syno- 
nyms introduced,  or  the  thought  would  be 
cast  in  a  new  verbal  mold.  These  substitutes 
and  changes  were  repeated  over  and  over, 
and  again  and  again,  and  in  every  instance 


it 
) 


■i 

1: 


122 


George  Bancroft 


the  new  word  or  the  new  transposition 
would  be  an  improvement;  and  so  the  work 
went  on,  until  the  author's  taste  and  judg- 
ment were  satisfied,  and  he  was  conscious  of 
having  reached  the  climax  of  felicity  and 
clearness  in  the  expression  of  his  thoughts. 
I  never  think  of  that  wretched  manuscript 
without  being  reminded  of  Mr.  Bancroft's 
declaration,  in  the  preface  of  his  history,  that 
"  there  is  no  end  to  the  difficulty  in  choosing 
language  which  will  awaken  in  the  reader 
the  very  same  thought  that  was  in  the  mind 
of  the  writer.  In  the  form  of  expression, 
many  revisions  are  hardly  enough  to  assure 
strict  correctness  and  propriety." 

No  wonder  it  took  such  a  painstaking 
writer  fifty  years  to  complete  his  monumen- 
tal history. 

Every  one  of  Mr.  Bancroft's  contributions 
to  the  Ledger  is  written  in  his  best  style. 
His  sketch  of  "  Oliver  Hazard    Perry    and 


Life  and  Writings 


123 


Battle  of  Lake  Erie  "  is  a  fine  specimen  of 
literary  art.  His  translucent  narrative  of 
the  way  in  which  Perry  overcame  the  seem- 
ingly insurmountable  obstacles  which  he 
encountered,  and  his  vivid  description  of  the 
battle,  bring  out  the  matchless  skill,  the 
unyielding  fortitude  and  the  dauntless  cour- 
age of  the  young  hero  in  a  manner  to  excite 
emotions  of  sympathy  and  exultation  in 
every  American  heart.  What  could  be  finer 
or  more  touching  than  this  closing  para- 
graph : 

"  The  personal  conduct  of  Perry  through- 
out the  loth  of  September  [the  day  of  the 
battle]  was  perfect.  His  keenly  sensitive 
nature  never  interfered  with  his  sweetness 
of  manner,  his  fortitude,  tlie  soundness  of 
his  judgment,  the  promptitude  of  his  deci- 
sion. In  a  state  of  impassioned  activity,  his 
plans  weie  wisely  framed,  were  instantly 
modified  as  circumstances  chanjred,  and  were 


124 


George  Bancroft 


:1  'i' 


P  ". 


executed  with  entire  coolness  and  self-posses- 
sion. The  mastery  of  the  lakes,  the  recovery 
of  Detroit  and  the  far  West,  the  capture  of 
the  British  army  in  the  peninsula  of  upper 
Canada,  were  the  immediate  fruits  of  his 
success.  The  imagination  of  the  American 
people  was  taken  captive  by  the  singular 
Incidents  of  a  battle  in  which  everything 
seemed  to  have  flowed  from  the  personal 
prowess  of  one  man  ;  and  whenever  he  came 
the  multitude  went  out  to  bid  him  welcome. 
Washington  Irving,  the  cliosen  organ  as  it 
were  of  his  country,  predicted  his  ever- 
increasing  fame.  Rhode  Island  cherishes 
his  glory  as  her  own ;  Erie  keeps  the  tradi- 
tion that  its  harbor  was  his  ship-yard,  its 
forests  the  storehouse  for  the  frames  of  his 
chief  vessels,  its  houses  the  hospitable  shelter 
of  the  wounded  among  his  crews;  Cleve- 
land graces  her  public  square  with  a  statue 
of  the  hero,  wrought  of  purest  marble,  and 


Life  and  Writmgs 


125 


looking  out  upon  the  scene  of  his  glory;  the 
tale  follows  the  emigrant  all  the  way  up  the 
Straits,  and  to  the  head  of  Lake  Superior. 
Perry's  career  was  short  and  troubled ;  he 
lives  in  the  memory  of  his  countrymen, 
clothed  in  perpetual  youth,  just  as  he  stood 
when  he  first  saw  that  his  efforts  were 
crowned  with  success,  and  could  say  in  his 
heart :     *  We    have   met   the  enemy,  and 

THEY  are    ours.*" 

Mr.  Bancroft's  sketch  of  "  A  Day  with 
Lord  Byron  "  has  unique  and  precious 
qualities.  What  other  man  of  world-wide 
literary  fame,  recently  living  among  us  in 
this  year  1891,  could,  in  the  flush  of  his 
manhood,  have  passed  a  day  with  Lord 
Byron  who  died  sixty-seven  years  ago?  Mr. 
Bancroft  was  in  his  twenty-second  year  on 
that  May  morning  in  1822,  when  he  passed  a 
day  with  Lord  Byron  at  Monte  Nero.  His 
imagination   was  exalted,  his  feelings  were 


!;• 

I: 


126 


George  Ba7icroft 


animated,  his  perception  was  quickened,  his 
observation  was  keen  and  comprehensive. 
His  account  of  Byron's  conversation,  his 
description  of  Countess  Giuccioli,  then  in 
the  heyday  of  her  beauty  and  fascination, 
and  his  subtle  and  phihjsophical  setting- 
forth  of  the  whole  unique  and  picturesque 
scene,  constitute  a  chapter  of  literary  remin- 
iscence of  the  highest  interest  and  value. 

In  his  sketch  of  Edv/ard  Everett,  written 
immediately  after  the  death  of  that  distin- 
guished scholar,  orator  and  statesman,  Mr. 
Bancroft's  heart  sometimes  overmasters  his 
mind.  The  opening  sentence — **  In  the  death 
of  Edward  Everett  I  have  lost  the  oldest 
friend  that  remained  to  me  " — sets  the  pitch 
and  strikes  the  keynote  of  the  article.  The 
sketch  exhibits  abundant  evidence  that  on 
its  preparation  Mr.  Bancroft  lavished  the 
wealth  of  his  genius,  his  accomplishments 
and  his  affections.     In  all  literature  there  is 


Life  and  VVritings 


127 


no  finer  tribute,  by  a  historian  of  universal 
fame,  to  a  departed  friend  who  was  himself 
a  peer  of  the  most  gifted  and  accomplished 
men  of  his  time.  - 

The  essay  on  Washington,  which  was  Mr. 
Bancroft's  last  contribution  to  the  New 
York  Ledger^  is  the  crowning  literary  effort 
of  his  life.  This  subject  is  one  on  which  he 
had  m<^ditatcd  for  more  than  sixty  years,  and 
of  which  he  had  written  much.  We  have 
already  given  the  sketch  of  Washington 
written  fifty  years  ago,  in  which  Mr.  Ban- 
croft delineates  him  as  he  stood  before  the 
world  when  he  was  appointed  commander- 
in-chief  of  the  American  armies  in  1775.  If 
the  reader  will  compare  that  sketch  with 
the  one  which  was  writen  for  the  New  York 
Ledger^  he  will  have  no  difficulty  in  perceiv- 
ing that  the  Ledger  sketch  is  the  historical 
sketch  come  to  maturity,  amplified,  strength- 
ened  and   enriched    with   the    accumulated 


128 


i- 


George  Bana'oft 


experience,  intelligence,  philosophy  and 
reflection  of  halt  a  century.  It  is,  in  truth, 
a  wonderful  piece  of  work.  It  is,  in  every 
respect,  a  fitting  tribute  to  him  whose  "  name, 
descending  with  all  time,  spreading  over 
the  whole  earth,  and  uttered  in  all  the  lan- 
guages belonging  to  the  tribes  and  races  of 
men,  will  forever  be  pronounced  with  affec- 
tionate gratitude  by  every  one  in  whose 
breast  there  shall  arise  an  aspiration  for 
human  rights  and  human  liberty."  * 


*  From  Daniel  Webster's  speech  at  the  dinner  in 
honor  of  Washington's  centennial  birthday,  at  Wash- 
ington, February  22,  1832, 


HISTORY  OF 


THE  BATTLE  OF  LAKE  ERIE, 


AM) 


MISCELLANEOUS  PAPERS, 


By 


HON.    GEORGE    BANCROFT 


"■'™ '"""■'""•  ■'V"//./,r,v™.,v™,,, 


NEW    VOKK  • 
ROHERT     „ON^,,K..s     SONS 

I89I. 


^f.k 


COPYRIOHT,    lH>U)nil(l   18!H, 
BY  RORKirr   HONNEK'S  SONS. 


(All  rights  reserved.) 


II 


The  Battle  of  Lake  Erie. 


CHAPTER   I. 


N  the  last  weeks  of  1812,  Oliver 
Hazard  Perry,  a  lieutenant  in 
the  United  States  Navy,  then 
twenty-seven  years  of  agCi 
despairing  of  a  sea-going  ves- 
sel, sent  to  the  Secretary  of 
the  Navy  "  a  tender  of  his  ser- 
vices for  the  Lakes."  Tired  of  inactivity,  he 
was  quickened  by  the  fame  which  men  even 
younger  than  liimself   had  just  gained  on  the 


130        The  Battle  of  Lake  Erie. 


If 


W^ 


m 


ocean.  At  that  time,  he  held  the  co»wmand 
of  a  flotilla  of  gun-boats  in  the  harbor  of 
Newport.  "  Possessing  an  ardent  desire  to 
meet  the  enemies  of  his  country,"  and  hoping 
one  day  to  lead  to  battle  the  able  and  brave 
men  who  were  at  that  time  under  his  orders, 
he  took  "  unwearied  pains  to  prepare  them 
for  such  an  event,"  training  them  to  the  use 
of  small  arms,  the  exercise  of  the  great  guns, 
and  every  war-like  service  on  shipboard. 

The  authority  of  Commodore  Chauncey, 
v/lio  took  charge  in  person  of  the  operations 
on  Lake  Ontario,  extended  to  all  the  upper 
lakes;  he  received  Perry's  application  with 
delight,  and  accepted  it  with  alacrity. 
"  You,**  thus  the  veteran  wrote  to  the 
impatient  young  man — "you  are  the  very 
person  that  1  want  for  a  service  in  which 
you  may  gain  reputation  for  yourself  and 
honor  for  your  country."  "  The  situation 
will  suit  you  exactly,"  wrote  the  friend  who 


The  Battle  of  Lake  Erie.        131 


from  Washington  announced  to  him  that  he 
was  ordered  on  duty  to  Lake  Erie  ;  "  you 
may  expect  warm  fighting  and  a  portion  of 
honor." 

His  sweet  disposition,  cheerfuhicss  and 
modest  courage,  his  intuitive  good  judgment 
and  quickness  of  will,  had  endeared  him  to 
his  subordinates ;  and  one  hundred  and 
forty-nine  of  them,  officers,  men  and  boys, 
for  the  most  part  like  himself  natives  of 
Rhode  Island,  volunteered  to  go  with  him  in 
the  dead  of  winter  on  the  unknown  service. 

Receiving  his  orders  on  the  17th  of  Feb- 
ruary, 18 1 3,  on  that  very  day  he  sent  forward 
one-third  of  the  volunteers  under  sailing- 
master  Almy,  as  many  more  on  the  19th, 
under,sailing-master  Champlin,  the  rest  on  the 
2ist,  under  sailing-master  Taylor;  and  on 
the  22nd,  delivering  over  his  command  in 
Newport,  he  began  the  journey  across  the 
country,   took   with    him    from    his   father's 


132  The  Battle  of  Lake  Erie, 


I  •!  i  f  ■ 

I  w 

'if  s 


\ 


house  his  brother  Alexander,  a  boy  of  twelve, 
met  Chauncey  at  Albany,  and  pursuing  his 
way  in  part  through  the  wilderness,  he 
arrived  on  the  3d  of  jNIarch  at  Sackett's 
Harbor.  The  command  on  Lake  Ontario 
was  important,  and  to  its  chief  officer  was 
paramount.  In  consequence  of  a  prevailing 
rumor  of  an  intended  attack  by  the  British 
on  that  station  to  destroy  the  squadron  and 
the  vessels  on  the  stocks,  Chauncey  detained 
Perry  and  all  his  old  companions  for  a  fort- 
night; and  one-third  of  those  companions  he 
never  let  go  from  his  own  ships  on  Lake 
Ontario. 

Not  till  the  i6th  of  March  was  Perry  per- 
mitted to  leave  Sackett's  Harbor.  On  the 
24th  he  reached  Buffalo  ;  the  next  day  was 
given  to  an  inspection  of  the  navy-yard  at 
Black  Rock.  On  the  26th,  Perry  set  out  in 
a  sleigh  over  the  frozen  lake,  and  on  the  fol- 
lowing afternoon  he   reached   the   harbor  of 


if 


The  B.  ttle  of  Lake  Eric.        133 


Erie.  There  he  found  that  the  keels  of  two 
brigs  had  been  laid,  and  three  gun-boats 
nearly  finished  by  New  York  mechanics, 
under  the  direction  of  Noah  Brown  as 
master-shipwright,  but  no  precautions  for 
defense  had  been  taken  ;  not  a  musket  was 
employed  to  guard  against  a  sudden  attack 
of  the  enemy,  nor  had  the  ice  been  used  for 
the  transportation  of  cannon  from  Buffalo. 
The  supervising  power  of  the  young  com- 
mander was  at  once  exerted.  Before  night 
he  organized  a  guard  out  of  the  villagers  of 
Erie,  ordered  sailing-master  Dobbins  to 
repair  to  Buffalo  to  bring  up  forty  seamen, 
muskets,  power,  and,  if  possible,  cannon,  and 
wrote  to  the  navy  agent  at  Pittsburg  to 
hasten  the  movements  of  a  party  of  ship- 
wrights on  their  way  from  Philadelphia. 

The  country  expected  Perry  to  change  the 
whole  course  of  the  war  in  the  West,  by 
obtaining  the  command  of  the  water,  which 


r 


■■I 


134         The  Battle  of  Lake  Erie. 


the  British  as  yet  possessed  without  dispute. 
The  want  of  that  supremacy  had  lost  Hull 
and  Winchester  and  their  forces,  had  left,  to 
the  British,  Detroit  and  Michilimacinac  and 
the  Northwest,  and  still  impeded  all  the  pur- 
poses of  Harrison.  The  route  from  Dayton 
in  Ohio,  to  the  lake,  was  so  difficult  that  the 
line  of  road  through  the  forest  and  prairies 
could  be  traced  by  the  wrecks  of  wagons 
clinging  with  tenacity  to  the  rich,  miry  soil ; 
while  the  difficulties  of  transportation  by 
land  along  the  lake  shore  were  insurmounta- 
ble. Yet  to  create  a  superior  naval  force  on 
Lake  Erie,  it  was  necessary  to  bring  sails, 
cordage,  cannon,  powder,  military  stores, 
from  a  distance  of  five  hundred  miles  throusfh 
a  region  of  which  a  considerable  part  was 
uninhabited. 

Under  the  cheering  influence  of  Perry,  the 
work  proceeded  with  harmonious  diligence. 
He  was  the  central  point  of  confidence,  for 


,'!  it 


TJie  Battle  of  Lake  Erie,        135 


he  turned  everything  to  account.  The  white 
and  the  bhick  oak  and  the  cliestnut  of  the 
neighboring  woods,  often  cut  down  on  the 
day  on  which  they  were  used,  furnished  the 
frames  of  the  vessels ;  the  outside  pkmks 
were  of  oak  ah)ne,  the  decks  of  pine.  To 
eke  out  the  iron,  every  scrap  was  gathered 
from  the  village  smithies  and  welded 
together.  Of  blacksmiths,  but  tw(j  came 
from  Philadelphia;  others  were  taken  from 
the  militia,  who  were  called  out  as  a  guard. 
Taylor  having  on  the  30th  of  March  arrived 
from  Sackett's  Harbor  with  twenty  officers 
and  men,  Perry  left  him  for  a  few  days  in 
command,  and,  by  a  hurried  visit  to  Pitts- 
burgh, quickened  the  movements  on  which 
he  depended  for  more  artificers,  for  canvas, 
muskets,  small  guns,  shot  and  balls. 

On  the  3d  day  of  May,  the  gun-boats  were 
launched ;  and  at  sunset  ci  the  23d,  the 
brigs,   each   of  one  hundred    and    forty-one 


arm 


m 

1^ '  • 

li 

k 

I « ' 

136         T/ic  Battle  of  Lake  Erie. 


feet  in  length,  of  five  hundred  tons  burden, 
pierced  for  twenty  guns,  were  got  ready  for 
launching.  Just  at  that  moment,  Perry 
received  information  that  Fort  George,  the 
British  post  at  the  outlet  of  Niagara,  was  to 
be  attacked  by  the  American  Army,  in  con- 
cert with  the  fleet  on  Lake  Ontario.  As 
soon  as  night  closed  in,  he  threw  himself 
into  a  four-oared  open  boat ;  through  dark- 
ness, and  against  squalls  and  head  winds, 
reached  Buffalo  the  next  day,  and  on  the 
evening  of  the  25th  joined  Chauncey  as  a 
volunteer. 

•*  No  person  on  earth  could  at  this  time  be 
more  welcome,"  said  Chauncey  to  the  young 
hero,  whose  coming  was  unexpected. 

Perry  was  taken  to  counsel  on  the  best 
mode  of  landing  the  troops,  and  rendered 
essential  aid  in  their  debarkation,  winning 
general  applause  for  his  judgment,  gallantry 
and   alacrity.      The   official   report   declares 


I  1 


;f  ' 


The  Battle  of  Lake  Erie.        137 


that  "  he  was  present  at  every  point  where 
he  could  be  useful,  under  showers  of  mus- 
ketry." 

He  escaped  unhurt,  and  turned  the  cap- 
ture of  Fort  George  to  account  for  his  duty 
on  Lake  Erie.  The  British,  being  driven 
from  both  banks  of  the  Niagara,  Perry  could 
remove  from  Black  Rock  the  public  vessels 
which  had  hitherto  been  confined  there  by 
Canadian  batteries.  Of  these,  the  largest 
was  the  Caledonia^  which  Lieutenant  Elliott 
had  captured  from  the  British  in  the  previous 
3'ear.  The  others  were  three  small  schoon- 
ers and  a  sloop,  trading  vessels,  purchased 
for  the  government,  and  fitted  out  as  gun- 
boats by  Henry  Eckford  of  New  York. 
They  were  laden  with  all  the  naval  stores  at 
Black  Rock,  and  by  aid  of  oxen,  seamen,  and 
a  detachment  of  two  hundred  soldiers,  were 
tracked  against  the  vehement  current. 

It  took  a    fortnight   of  almost   incredible 


^m^ 


138         The  Battle  of  Lake  Erie. 


fatigue  to  bring  them  up  to  Buffalo,  where 
danger  began.  The  little  flotilla  had  alto- 
gether but  eight  guns  ;  Finnis,  a  skillful  and 
experienced  officer,  who  still  commanded 
the  British  squadron,  was  on  the  watch,  with 
a  force  five  or  six  times  as  great.  But 
Perry,  by  vigilance  and  promptness,  escaped, 
and  in  the  evening  of  the  i8th  of  June,  just 
as  the  British  squadron  hove  in  sight,  he 
brought  his  group  of  gun-boats  into  the 
harbor  of  Erie. 

The  incessant  exertion  of  all  his  faculties, 
night  watching  and  unending  care,  wore 
upon  Perry's  frame ;  but  there  could  be  no 
pause  in  his  efforts,  for  there  was  no  end  to 
his  difficulties.  His  example  sustained  the 
spirit  of  the  workmen ;  one-fifth  of  them 
were  sick,  but  the  work  was  kept  up  all  day 
and  all  night  by  the  rest,  who  toiled  on  with- 
out a  murmur,  and  not  one  deserted.  The 
brig  over  which  Perry  was  to  raise  his  flag, 


itfl 


The  J3attlc  of  Lake  Erie.        139 


was,  by  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy,  named 
Lawrence,  in  honor  of  the  gallant  officer  who 
could  die  in  his  country's  service,  but  could 
not  brook  defeat ;  the  other,  equal  to  it  in 
size  and  strength,  was  called  the  Niagara. 
By  the  loth  of  July  all  the  vessels  were 
equipped,  and  could  have  gone  out  in  a  day 
after  the  reception  of  their  crsws  ;  but  there 
were  barely  men  enough  for  one  of  the  brigs. 
All  recruits  were  furnished,  not  directly 
from  Philadelphia,  as  a  thoughtful  Secretary 
would  have  ordered,  but  with  much  loss  of 
time,  roundabout,  by  way  of  Sackett's 
Harbor  and  through  Chauncey,  who  was 
under  a  perpetual  temptation  to  detain  the 
best  on  Lake  Ontario. 

On  the  20th  of  July,  the  British,  now  com- 
manded by  the  veteran  Barclay,  rode  in 
triumph  off  the  bar  of  Erie.  Perry  bent  his 
eyes  longingly  on  the  East ;  he  watched  the 
coming  of  every  mail,  of  every  traveler,  as 


140         The  Battle  of  Lake  Erie, 


i^' 


V\ 


■It 


-  k 


the  harbinger  of  the  glad  tidings  that  men 
were  on  the  way.  "  Give  me  men,"  he  wrote 
to  Chauncey,  *'  and  I  will  acquire  honor  and 
glory,  both  for  you  and  myself,  or  perish  in 
the  attempt.  Think  of  my  situation  ;  the 
enemy  within  striking  distance,  my  vessels 
ready,  and  I  obliged  to  bite  my  fingers  with 
vexation  for  want  of  men.  I  know  you  will 
send  them  as  soon  as  possible,  yet  a  day 
appears  an  age." 

On  the  23rd,  Champlin  arrived  with  a 
re-inforcement  of  seventy  persons,  but  they 
were  *'  a  motley  set  of  negroes,  soldiers  and 
boys."  Chauncey  repelled  all  complaints : 
**  I  have  yet  to  learn,"  said  he,  "  that  the 
color  of  the  skin  can  affect  a  man's  qualifica- 
tions or  usefulness.  1  have  nearly  fifty  blacks 
on  board  of  this  ship,  and  many  of  them  are 
among  my  best  men."  Meantime,  Perry 
declared  himself  ''  pleased  to  see  anything  in 
the  shape  of  a  man."     But  his  numb'^rs  were 


The  Battle  of  Lake  Eric.  141 

still  incomplete.  *'  My  vessels,"  he  again 
wrote,  "are  all  ready;  our  sails  are  bent, 
Barclay  has  been  bearding  me  for  several 
da3'S.  I  long  to  have  at  him  ;  he  shows  no 
disposition  to  avoid  the  contest." 

Perry  had  not  in  his  character  one  grain 
of  envy.  Impatient  as  a  spirited  race-horse 
to  win  the  palm  in  the  contest  for  glory,  no 
one  paid  a  heartier  or  more  genial  tribute  to 
the  merit  of  every  other  ofiFiCer,  even  where, 
like  Morris,  a  junior  officer  received  promo- 
tion over  his  head.  He  now  invited  Chauncey 
himself  to  come  up  with  sufficient  men,  beat 
the  British  on  Lake  Erie,  and  returned  to 
crush  them  on  Lake  Ontario.  In  his  zeal  for 
his  country  and  the  service,  he  subdued  his 
own  insatiable  thirst  for  honor.  Meantime 
he  suffered  most  kf^enly  from  his  compulsory 
inactivity,  for  letters  from  the  Secretary  of 
the  Navy  required  his  active  co-operation 
with  the  arm}^ ;  and  when  he   explained  to 


142         The  Battle  of  Lake  Erie, 

Harrison  the  cause  of  delay,  the  Secretary 
chid  him  for  letting  his  weakness  be  known. 

The  harbor  of  Erie  is  a  beautiful  expanse 
of  water,  offering  shelter  to  navies  of  mer- 
chantmen,  and  would  be  the  best  on  the  lake 
but  for  its  bar.  It  remained  to  lift  the  armed 
brigs  over  the  shallow,  and  it  was  to  be 
done,  as  it  were,  in  the  presence  of  an  enemy. 
Success  required  secrecy  and  dispatch. 

On  the  ist  of  August,  the  British  squad- 
ron disappeared  ;  on  the  instant  Perry  seized 
the  opportunity  to  effect  the  dangerous 
achievement.  Camels  had  been  provided  to 
lift  the  brigs  ;  the  lake  was  lower  than  usual, 
but  the  weather  was  still.  The  guns  of  the 
Lawrence^  all  loaded  and  shotted,  v^ere 
whipped  out  and  landed  on  the  bear^  a 

on  the  morning  of   the  2nd,  the  ca  vvere 

applied. 

On  the  first  experiment  the  timbers  yielded 
a  little  to  the  strain,  and  the  camels  required 


.    The  Battle  of  Lake  Erie.        143 

to  be  sunk  a  second  time.  From  dayliglit 
on  the  2nd  of  August  to  the  4th,  Perry, 
whose  health  had  already  suffered,  was  con- 
stantly on  the  alert,  without  sleep  or  rest ; 
his  example  heartened  his  men. 

Who  would  complain  when  their  com- 
mander bore  so  much  ?  After  toiling  all  day 
on  the  2nd,  all  the  next  night,  the  next  day, 
and  again  another  night,  the  Laivrcnce,  at 
daylight  on  the  4th,  was  fairl}'  over  the  bar. 
On  the  5th,  the  Niagara  was  got  over  at  the 
first  attempt. 

"  Thank  God,"  wrote  Perry,  "  the  other 
sloop-of-war  is  over ;  in  a  few  hours  I  shall 
be  after  the  enemy,  who  is  now  making  off." 

Ill-provided  as  he  was  with  men  and 
officers,  he  gave  chase  to  the  British  ;  but 
his  daring  was  vain ;  they  retreated  to 
Maiden,  and  he  returned  to  anchor  off  Erie. 

Till  the  new  ship  which  the  British  were 
equipping  at  Maiden  should  be  ready.  Perry 


»* 


144  ^'/^^  Battle  of  Lake  Eric. 


\\         \ 


liad  the  superiorit}',  and  he  used  it  to  lade 
his  vessels  with  militar}^  stores  for  the  army 
near  Sandusky ;  but  for  a  battle  on  the  lake 
he  needed  officers  as  well  as  seamen. 

'*  I  have  been  on  the  station,"  he  could  say, 
**  for  five  months  without  an  officer  of  the 
least  experience,  except  one  sailing-master." 

Just  then  a  midshipman  arrived  with  a 
letter  that  Lieutenant  Elliott,  soon  promoted 
to  a  commander,  was  on  the  way  with  eight}^ 
men  and  several  officers,  and  a  vessel  was  at 
once  hurried  off  to  bring  them  up.  But  a 
letter  also  came  to  Perry  from  Chauncey, 
marked  in  its  superscription  and  in  every 
line  b}'  impatience,  if  not  by  insult.  Ferry 
was  justly  moved  by  its  tone  ;  but  after  com- 
plaint, remonstrance  and  further  letters,  he 
acted  like  "an  officer  whose  first  duty  is  to 
sacrifice  all  personal  feelings  to  his  public 
duties." 

Elliott,  on  his  arrival     took  command  of 


The  Bat  fie  of  Lake  Erie.        145 


the  Niagara 

that    was    natural    to    In' 


md   Perry,  with  a  generosity 


m. 


all 


owe 


d    1 


urn    to 


select  for  his  own  ship  the  best  of  the  men 
who  came  with  him. 

On  the  1 2th,  Ferry  having  traced  his  plan 
of  battle  in  case  of  attack,  ranged  his  squad- 
ron in  a  double  column,  and  sailed  for  the 
upper  end  of  the  lake.  Arriving  off  Cun- 
ningham Island,  one  of  the  enemy's  schooner; 
appeared  in  sight,  was  chased,  and  escaped 
capture  only  by  disappearing  at  nightfall 
among  the  islands. 

On  the  evening  of  the  19th,  as  the  squad- 
ron lay  off  Sandusky,  General  Harrison  came 
on  board  the  Lawrence  with  Cass,  McArthur, 
Gains  and  Croghan.  At  the  same  time  came 
six-and-twenty  chiefs  of  the  Shawnecs, 
Wyandots  and  Dela wares,  by  whose  influ- 
ence it  was  hoped  to  detach  the  Indians  of 
the  Northwest  from  the  British  service. 
Between   Harrison  and  Perry    the  happiest 


il  ' 


u 


146  77ic  Battle  of  Lake  Jirie. 

spirit  of  concert  prevailed.  Tlie  g^eneral 
pointed  out  to  him  the  excellence  of  the 
liarbor  of  Put-in-Bay,  which  became  his 
anchorin<^  f^roiind,  after  lie  had  landed  the 
stores  for  tlie  army  and  reconnoiteied  the 
British  souadron  at  JVIalden. 

Chauncey  had  promised  to  send  fifty 
marines,  but  had  recalled  them  when  on 
their  way  to  Lake  Erie.  Harrison,  who  saw 
the  want  unsupplied  and  observed  how  much 
the  little  squadron  had  been  weakened  by 
sickness,  now  sent  on  board  from  his  army 
near  one  hundred  men,  all  of  whom  were 
volunteers.  Some  of  these,  having  served  as 
boatmen  on  the  Ohio,  were  put  on  duty  as 
seamen ;  the  rest,  chiefly  men  of  Kentucky 
who  had  never  before  seen  a  ship,  acted  as 
marines. 

Just  then  Perry  was  taken  down  by  a  vio- 
lent attack  of  lake  fever  ;  but  it  was  no  time 
to  yield  to  physical   weakness ;  he  gave  up 


The  Battle  of  Lake  Erie.        147 

to  the  care  of  himself  only  the  few  days  nec- 
essary to  make  the  crews  acquainted  with 
each  other  and  to  teach  the  new  men  the 
use  of  the  guns. 

On  the  ist  of  September  he  was  able  to  be 
on  deck,  and  again  sailed  toward  Maiden. 
Here  he  found  that  the  British  had  equipped 
their  new  ship,  which  they  had  proudly 
named  Detroit^  as  a  memorial  of  their  con- 
quest;  but  though  Perry  defied  them,  the 
British  as  yet  showed  no  disposition  to  meet 
him  ;  and  he  returned  to  Put-in-Bay. 

But  meantime  the  British  Army,  which 
had  been  accustomed  to  the  abundance  and 
security  which  the  dominion  of  the  water 
had  afforded,  began  to  suffer  from  the  want 
of  provisions :  and  to  restore  the  uninter- 
rupted  communication  with  Long  Point, 
General  Proctor  insisted  on  the  necessity  of 
risking  a  naval  engagement  of  which  the  issue 


»  i 


i  -li 


148         7yie  Battle  of  Lake  Eric, 

was  not  thought  uncertain.     Of  this  Perry 
was  seasonably  informed. 

On  the  6th,  he  again  reconnoitered  Maiden, 
and  finding  the  enemy  still  at  his  moorings, 
he  returned  once  more  to  his  anchorage,  to 
make  his  final  arrangements  for  the  conflict, 
which  was  inevitably  near  at  hand.     On  the 
evening  of  the  9th,  he  summoned,  by  signal, 
the  commanders  of  the  several  vessels,  and 
gave  them  their  instructions  in  writing.     It 
was   his  policy  to  fight  the  enemy  at  close 
quarters  ;  to  each  vessel  its  antagonist  on  the 
British  side  was  marked  out ;  to  the  Lawrence^ 
the   Detroit ;  to  the  Niagara  the  Queen  Char- 
lotte;  and    the  written  order  said  :  "Engage 
each     your    designated   adversary   in    close 
action,  at  half  cable-length."     He  also  showed 
them  a  flag  of  blue  bunting,  on  which  were 
painted  in  white  letters,  the  last  words  of 
Lawrence  :     "  Don't  give  up   the  ship."     It 
was  a  bright  autumn  night ;  the  moon  was  at 


The  Battle  of  Lake  Erie.        149 


the  full ;  as  they  parted,  each  to  return  to  the 
vessel,  the  last  injunction  of  their  young 
commander  was  giv^en  in  the  words  of  Nel- 
son :  "  If  you  lay  your  enemy  close  alongside, 
you  cannot  be  out  of  your  place." 

At  sunrise  on  the  loth,  the  British  squadron 
was  discovered,  from  the  mast  head  of  the 
Laivrence,  gallantly  bearing  down  for  action. 
To  Perry,  all  languishing  as  he  was  from  the 
wasting  attack  of  a  severe  bilious  fever,  the 
news  was  as  welcome  as  the  bidding  to  the 
most  important  duty  of  his  life.  His  anchors 
were  soon  lifted,  and  his  squadron  began 
beating  out  of  the  bay  against  a  gentle  breeze 
from  the  southwest.  Three  or  four  hours 
passed  away  in  this  contest  with  an  adverse 
wind,  when  he  resolved  to  wear  ship  and  run 
to  leeward  of  the  island.  *'  You  will  engage 
the  enemy  from  to  leeward,"  said  the  sailing- 
master  Taylor.  "  To  windward  or  to  lee- 
ward," answered  Perry,  **  they  shall  fight  to- 


15' 


The  Battle  of  Lake  Erie. 


. 


E'    [ft 


day."  But  nature  on  that  day  came  into  an 
alliance  with  his  hopeful  courage,  and  the 
wind  shifted  to  the  southeast.  A  slight 
shower  had  fallen  in  the  morning ;  the  sky 
became  clear  ;  the  day  on  which  Perry,  form- 
ing his  line,  slowly  bore  up  toward  the 
enemy,  then  nearly  three  leagues  off,  was  one 
of  the  loveliest  of  the  beautiful  days  of 
autumn. 

At  first,  the  Niagara  had  led  the  van. 
When  within  about  a  league  of  the  British, 
Perry  saw  that  Barclay,  with  whose  vessel 
he  was  about  to  engage,  occupied  the  head 
of  the  British  line,  and  he  promptly  altered 
the  disposition  of  his  vessels  to  conform  to  it. 
Elliott  had  no  cause  to  be  piqued  at  the 
change,  which  was  required  b}^  the  plan  that 
had  been  uniformly  proposed.  It  was  in 
itself  most  fit,  and  was  made  promptly  and 
without  confusion. 

The  British  squadron  had  hove  to,  in  close 


The  Battle  of  Lake  Eric.        1 5 1 


order,  the  ships'  heads  to  the  southward  and 
westward,  and  waiting  to  be  attacked  ;  the 
sides  of  the  vessels,  newly  painted,  glittering 
in  the  sun,  and  their  gay  colors  flying  in  the 
breeze.  Tiie  Detroit^  a  new  brig  of  nineteen 
or  twenty  guns,  commanded  by  Barclay,  an 
experienced  officer,  who  had  fought  with 
Nelson  at  Trafalgar,  was  in  the  van,  supported 
by  the  C/iippczva,  a  gun-boat  with  one  long 
eighteen  on  a  pivot.  Next  rode  the  Hunter, 
of  ten  guns  ;  the  Queen  Charlotte,  of  seventeen 
guns,  commanded  by  Finnis,  a  gallant  and 
tried  officer,  who  had  commanded  the  squad- 
ron till  Barclay's  arrival,  was  the  fourth,  and 
was  flanked  by  the  Lady  Prevost,  which 
carried  thirteen  guns,  and  the  Little  Belt, 
which  had  three.  On  the  American  side. 
Perry  in  the  Lawrence,  of  twenty  guns,  flanked 
on  his  left  by  the  Seorpion,  under  Champlin, 
with  one  long  and  one  short  gun,  and  the 
Ariel,    under    Lieutenant    Almy,    with    four 


152  Tfie  Battle  of  Lake  Erie. 


ii 


r 


(!1       1 


short  twelves,  and  sustained  on  his  right  by 
Turner,  in  the  Caledonia,  with  three  long 
twenty-fours,  were  to  support  each  other  and 
to  cope  with  the  Chippewa,  the  Detroit  and 
the  Hunter ;  while  Elliott,  in  the  Niagara,  a 
noble  vessel  of  twenty  guns,  which  was  to 
encounter  the  Queen  Charlotte,  came  next ; 
and  with  Almy  in  the  Somers,  of  two  long 
thirty-twos,  the  Poreupine,  with  one  long 
thirty-two,  the  Tigress  with  one  long  twenty- 
four,  and  the  Trippe,  with  one  long  thirty- 
two,  was  to  engage  Lady  Prevost  and  the 
Little  Belt.  The  American  gun-boat  Ohio  was 
absent  on  special  service. 

In  ships  the  British  had  the  superiority, 
their  vessels  being  stronger  and  their  forces 
being  more  concentrated  ;  the  American  gun- 
boats, at  the  right  of  the  American  line, 
separated  fr  n  each  other  by  at  least  a  half 
cable-length,  were  not  near  enough  for  good 
service.     In  number  of  guns  the  British  had 


The  Battle  of  Lake  Eric.        15 


sixty-three,    the    Americans    fifty-four.       In 
action   at   a   distance,  the    British,  who   had 
thirty-five  long  guns  to  fifteen,  had  greatly 
the  advantage ;  in  close  action  the  weight  of 
metal   would    favor   the    Americans.       The 
British    commander   had   one   hundred    and 
fifty  men  from  the  royal  navy,  eighty  Cana- 
dian  sailors   and   two    hundred     and    forty 
soldiers,  mostly  regulars,  and   some  Indians, 
making,  with  their  officers,  a  little  more  than 
five   hundred    men,  of   whom,  at   least,  four 
hundred  and  fifty  were  efficient.     The  Amer- 
ican crews— of  whom  about  one-fourth  were 
from  Rhode  Island,  one-fourth  regular  seamen 
American  or  cosmopolitan,  about  one-fourth 
raw  volunteers  from  Pennsylvania,  Ohio,  and 
chiefly     Kentucky,    and     about     one-fourth 
blacks — numbered   on   the  muster-roll    four 
hundred  and  ninety,  but  of  these  one  hundred 
and   sixteen  were  sick,  nearly  all  of  whom 
were  too  weak  to  come  oa  deck,  so  that  the 


ssaa 


It 


|-^ 


i' 


% 


pi 


1        'I 


11! 


1 54         T/ie  Battle  of  Lake  Eric. 

efficient  force  of  tlie  squadron  was  a  little  less 
than  four  hundred. 

Wl.ile  the  Americans,  having  the  weather- 
gauge,  bore  up  for  action.  Perry  unfolded  to 
the  crew  of  the  Laivrcnce,  the  motto-flag.  It 
was  received  with  hearty  cheers,  and  run  up 
to  the  fore-royal,  in  sight  of  all  the  squadron. 
The  decks  were  wet  and  strewed  with  sand, 
to  insure  a  firm  foothold  when  blood  should 
begin  to  flow,  and  refreshments  were  hastily 
served.  For  an  hour,  the  stillness  of  expec- 
tation continued  unbroken,  till  a  bugle  was 
heard  to  sound  on  board  the  Dcttoit^  fol- 
lowed by  loud  and  concerted  cheers  from  all 
the  British  line,  and  Barclay  began  the  con- 
flict, in  which  the  defeat  of  the  Americans 
would  yield  to  the  British  the  superiority  in 
arms  on  the  land,  bare  the  shores  of  Ohio  to 
ruthless  havoc  and  ravage,  leave  Detroit 
and  the  far  West  in  the  power  of  the  English 
king,  let  loose  the  savage  with  his  tomahawk 


The  Battle  of  Lake  Erie.        155 

on  every  family  of  emigrants  along  the 
border,  and  dishonor  the  star-spangled  ban- 
ner on  the  continent  and  on  the  lakes. 


rir 


mmm 


CHAPTER    II. 

THE  FATE  OF  THE   FLAG-SHIP   LAWRENCE. 

At  fifteen  minutes  before  twelve,  Barclay 
began  the  action  by  firing  a  single  twenty- 
four  pound  shot  at  the  Laivnnci.,  which  had 
then  approached  within  a  mile  and  a  half,  or 
less,  of  the  British  line.  The  shot  did  not 
take  effect ;  but  it  was  clear  that  he  desired 
to  conduct  the  fight  with  the  American 
squadron  at  a  distance,  which  his  very  great 
superiority  in  long  guns  marked  out  as  his 
wisest  plan.  It  was,  on  the  other  hand,  the 
object  of  Perry  to  bring  his  squadron  as 
near  to  his  antagonist  as  possible,  for  he  had 
the  advantage   in  weight  of  metal.     In  five 


The  Battle  of  Lake  Eric.         157 


minutes  more  the  shot  from  the  Detroit  struck 
the  Lawrence,  and  passed  through  its  bul- 
warks. 

At  that  moment,  the  advantage  lay  alto- 
gether with  the  British,  whose  line  headed 
nearly  south-southwest ;  the  Americans,  as 
they  advanced,  headed  about  southwest, 
with  the  wind  abeam  ;  so  that  the  two  lines 
formed  an  acute  angle  of  about  fifteen 
degrees;  the  Lawrence  as  yet  scarcely 
reached  beyond  the  third  vessel  in  the  Brit- 
ish line,  so  that  she  was  almost  as  much  in 
the  rear  of  the  Z>r/rt7//  as  in  advance  of  the 
Queen  Charlotte.  The  Caledonia  was  in  its 
designated  place  in  the  American  line,  at  a 
half-cable's  length  from  the  Laivrcnce ;  and 
from  the  angle  which  the  line  formed,  a  little 
less  near  the  enemy.  The  Niagara,  which 
followed  the  Caledonia^  was  abaft  the  beam 
of  the  Charlotte,  and  opposite  the  Lady 
Prevost,    but   at   a  slightly  greater   distance 


158         The  Battle  of  Lake  Erie. 


W: 


from  the  British  than  the  ships  which  pre- 
ceded her.  As  for  the  gun-boats,  they  would 
have  spread  beyond  the  British  lines  by 
more  than  a  quarter  of  a  mile,  had  they 
been  in  their  places,  each  distant  from  the 
other  a  half-cable's  length  ;  but  they  were 
dull  sailors,  and  the  stcrnmost  was  more 
than  two  miles  distant  from  the  enemy,  and 
more  than  a  mile  behind  the  Lawrence. 

At  five  minutes  before  twelve,  the  Law- 
rence, which  was  already  suffering,  began  to 
return  to  the  British  attack  from  her  long 
twelve-pounder  ;  the  two  schooners  on  her 
weather-bow,  the  Scorpion  under  Champlin, 
the  Ariel  under  Lieutenant  Packet,  were 
ordered  by  trumpet  to  open  their  fire  ;  and 
the  action  became  general  along  the  two 
lines.  The  two  schooners  bravely  kept  their 
places  all  the  day,  and  gallantly  and  steadily 
rendered  every  aid  which  their  few  guns 
and    weight    of    armament    allowed.     The 


( 
f 


The  Battle  of  Lake  Erie,        159 


Caledonia  was  able  to  e  ngage  at  once  and 
effectively,  for  she  carried  two  long  twenty- 
fours  ;  but  the  carronades  ot  the  Niagara 
fell  short  of  their  mark.  Elliott  therefore  at 
first  used  only  one  long  twelve-pounder, 
which  was  on  the  side  towards  the  enemy ; 
but  he  )Oon  moved  another  where  it  could 
be  serviceable ;  so  that  while  his  ship 
carried  twenty  guns  he  discharged  but  two, 
which,  however,  were  plied  so  vigorously, 
that,  in  the  course  of  two  hours  or  more, 
nearly  all  the  shot  of  that  caliber  was 
expended.  The  sternmost  gunboats  could 
as  yet  take  no  part  in  the  fight. 

It  was  under  these  circumstances  that 
Perry  formed  the  desperate  but  necessary 
resolution  of  taking  the  utmost  advantage  of 
the  superior  speed  of  the  Laivrcnce,  and  leav- 
ing the  Caledonia,  he  advanced  upon  the 
enemy  ;  so  that  however  great  might  have 
been  the  zeal  of  every  officer  in  the  other 


i6o         The  Battle  of  Lake  Erie, 


ships  of  his  squadron,  he  must  necessarily 
have  remained  for  a  short  time  exposed 
alone.  The  breeze  was  light  ;  his  motion 
was  slow  ;  and  as  he  fanned  down  with  the 
flagging  wind,  the  Detroit  with  her  long 
guns  planted  her  shot  in  the  Laivrence  delib- 
erately and  at  discretion.  The  Scorpion  and 
Ariel,  all  exposed  as  they  vvere  for  the  want 
of  bulwarks,  accompanied  the  flag-ship,  but 
suffered  little,  for  they  were  neglected  by 
the  enemy,  who  concentrated  his  fire  on  the 
Laivrence, 

At  noon.  Perry  luffed  up  and  tried  the 
effect  of  the  first  division  of  his  battery  on 
the  starboard  side ;  but  it  did  not  much 
injure  his  antagonist  ;  he  therefore  bore 
away  again,  and  approached  nearer  and  still 
nearer,  and  after  firing  a  broadside  at  a  quar- 
ter-past twelve,  once  more  continued  his 
onward  course,  till  he  arrived  **  within  can- 
ister shot  distance,"  or  within  five  hundred 


The  Battle  of  Lake  Eric.        i6i 


yards,  or  a  little  less,  wlien  he  took  a  position 
exactly  parallel  to  the  Detroit,  and,  notwith- 
standing what  he  had  suffered  from  loss  of 
men  and  injury  to  his  rigging,  he  poured  in 
upon  her  a  swift,  continuous  and  effective 
fire.  Here  the  good  effect  of  his  discipline 
was  apparent ;  his  men  showed  how  well 
they  had  been  trained  to  the  guns,  which 
were  rapidly  and  skillfully  served.  In  the 
beginning  of  the  conflict,  the  Niagara  came  in 
for  a  share  of  the  attention  of  the  enemy  ; 
whose  shot  very  early  took  effect  upon  her  and 
carried  away  one  of  her  fore-top-mast  back- 
stays. But  at  half-past  twelve,  Finnis,  who 
commanded  the  Queen  Charlotte^  perceived 
that  the  Niagara,  which  was  apparently  des- 
tined  for  his  antagonist,  "  kept  so  far  to  wind- 
ward as  to  render  his  twenty-four-pounder 
carronades  useless,"  **  made  sail  for  the 
purpose  of  assisting  the  Detroit ;"  so  that 
Perry,  in  the  Lawrenee,  aided  only   by   the 


1 62         The  Battle  of  Lake  Erie. 


schooners  on  his  weather  bow,  and  the  distant 
shot  of  the  Caledonia,  had  to  contend  in  close 
action  with  more  tlian  twice  his  force. 

The  carnage  was  terrible,  yet  the  commo- 
dore, as  his  men  loved  to  call  their  j'oung 
commander,  was  on  that  day  nerved  by  a 
superior  spirit ;  wrougiit  up  to  the  highest 
state  of  mental  activity,  he  was  superior  to 
every  infirmity  of  mind  or  body,  of  passion 
or  will ;  he  knew  not  that  he  was  still 
languishing  under  the  effects  of  a  violent 
fever ;  he  was  unmoved  in  the  presence  of 
danger ;  and  amidst  the  scenes  of  agony  and 
death,  he  maintained  a  perfect  cheerfulness 
of  manner  and  serenity  of  judgment.  His 
3'oung  brother,  a  boy  of  thirteen,  was  struck 
down  at  his  side,  but  he  was  spared  the  trial 
of  seeing  him  die ;  the  blow  came  only  from 
fragments  which  had  been  dashed  in  pieces 
by  a  ball ;  and  he  soon  recovered.  Yarnall, 
his  first  lieutenant,  came  to  him    with    the 


The  Battle  of  Lake  Erie.        163 


report  that  all  the  officers  in  his  division 
were  cut  down  ;  and  he  asked  for  others. 
They  were  assigned  him  ;  but  he  soon 
returned  with  a  renewal  of  the  same  tale  and 
the  same  request.  **  I  have  no  more  officers 
to  furnish  you,"  said  Perry;  "you  must 
endeavor  to  make  out  for  yourself."  And 
Yarnall  was  true  to  the  admonition  ;  though 
at  least  thrice  wounded,  he  kept  on  deck, 
ever  directing  his  battery  in  person.  For- 
est, the  second  lieutenant,  was  struck  down 
at  Ferry's  side  by  a  grape  shot;  but  the  ball 
had  spent  its  force  ;  he  was  only  stunned, 
and  soon  recovered.  The  dying,  with  whom 
the  desk  was  strewed,  rested  their  last  looks 
upon  the  countenance  of  their  beloved  com- 
mander ;  and  when  men  at  the  guns  were 
swept  away,  the  survivors  turned  silently 
round  to  catch  his  eye,  as  they  stepped  into 
the  places  of  their  companions  who  had 
fallen.     Brooks,  of   Massachusetts — son  of  a 


164         The  Battle  of  Lake  Erie. 


soldier  of  the  Revolution,  who  is  still 
remembered  as  an  upright  and  popular  gov- 
ernor of  the  S.ate — an  excellent  officer  of 
marines,  a  man  of  rare  endowments  and  of 
singular  personal  beauty,  was  fearfully  man- 
gled by  a  cannon-ball  in  the  hip.  Carried 
down  to  the  surgeon's  apartment,  he  asked 
no  aid,  for  he  knew  his  doom,  and  that  he 
had  life  in  him  for  only  one  or  two  half- 
hours  ;  but  as  he  gave  himself  over  to  death, 
he  often  inquired  how  the  day  was  going ; 
and  when  the  crowd  of  new-comers  from 
the  deck  showed  how  deadly  was  the  con- 
test, he  ever  repeated  his  hope  for  the  safety 
of  the  commander. 

In  the  midst  of  this  terrible  slaughter,  con- 
centrated in  a  single  brig,  both  officers  and 
crew  looked  along  their  line  for  help,  and 
asked  one  another,  Where  is  the  Niagara? 
She  was  to  have  engaged  the  Queen  Charlotte  ; 
why  is  she  not  at   hand  ?     Elliott  knew  full 


The  Battle  of  Lake  Erie,        165 


well  that  it  had  been  Perry's  '*  intention  to 
bring  the  enemy  t  '^'ose  action  immediately," 
and,  before  the  fighting  began,  had  **  men- 
tioned it  to  his  crew,"  in  language  suited  to 
inspire  them  with  confidence.  He  knew  full 
well  that  he  was  specially  directed  to  attack 
the  Queen  Charlotte,  and  from  the  superiority 
of  his  armament,  he  had  boasted  that  if  he 
could  come  alongside  of  her,  he  could  take 
her  in  ten  minutes.  The  wind,  it  is  true,  was 
light ;  but  no  want  of  a  wind  compelled  him  to 
leave  tiie  Lawrence  to  bear  **  a  great  propor- 
tion "  or  the  whole  '*  of  the  fire  of  the  Queen 
Charlotte  and  of  the  Hunter,  as  well  as  of  the 
Detroit;''  his  ship  was  a  fleet  one;  to 
restrain  her  from  passing  the  Caledonia,  "  he 
was  obliged  frequently  to  keep  the  main  yard 
braced  sharp  aback."  Elliott  was  a  young 
man,  born  the  self-same  year  with  Ferry,  his 
peer  in  rank  as  master-commandant,  excc[)t 
that  Ferry,  from  having  entered  the  navy  in 


1 66         The  B'lttlc  of  Lake  Erie. 


' 


boyhood,  was  some  years  his  senior  in  the 
service.  How  could  he  suffer  the  enemy, 
undisturbed,  to  fall  in  numbers  on  one  whom 
he  should  have  loved  as  a  brother,  whose 
danger  he  should  have  shared,  in  the  bright- 
ness of  whose  glory  he  should  have  found 
new  luster  added  to  his  own  name  ?  Some 
attributed  his  delay  to  fear;  but  though  he 
had  so  far  one  attribute  of  a  timid  man,  that 
he  was  a  noisy  boaster,  his  conduct  during 
the  day,  in  the  judgment  of  disinterested 
observers  and  critics,  acquits  him  of  having 
been  spell-bound  by  downright  cowardice. 
Some  charged  him  with  disaffection  to  his 
country,  from  sympathy  with  family  connec- 
tions in  Canada ;  but  this  is  an  imputation 
justified  by  no  concurrent  circumstances,  or 
acts  of  his  earlier  or  later  life.  Some  thought 
him  blinded  by  envy,  which  sews  up  the  eyes 
with  an  iron  thread,  and  leaves  the  mind  to 
hover  on  an  undiscerning   wing.     He   may, 


Tkc  Battle  of  Lake  Erie,        167 


perhaps,  have  been  disturbed  by  that  unhappy 
passion,  for  a  year  before  lie  had  liiniself  con- 
spicuously won  applause  near  Buffalo,  and 
had  then  promised  himself  the  command  on 
Lake  Eric,  to  be  followed  by  a  victory 
achieved  under  his  own  fla*^ ;  that  very 
morning,  too,  his  first  position  had  been,  as 
we  have  seen,  in  the  van,  but  it  had  been  very 
properly  changed  for  the  very  purpose  of 
placing  him  opposite  to  the  Queen  Cliarlotte. 
Elliott  had  inherent  defects  of  character.  I  le 
wanted  the  generous  impulse  which  delights 
in  the  fame  of  others ;  the  delicacy  of  senti- 
ment wliich  rejects  from  afar  everything 
coarse  or  mean  ;  the  alertness  of  courage 
which  finds  in  danger  an  allurement ;  the 
quick  perception  that  sees  the  time  to  strike ; 
the  self-possessed  will,  which  is  sure  to  hit 
the  nail  on  the  head.  According  to  his  own 
account,  he  at  first  determined  to  run  through 
the  line  in  pursuit  of  the    Queen    Charlotte ; 


t 


r 


1 68         The  Battle  of  Lake  Eric. 


and  having  a  fair  and  sufficient  breeze,  he 
directed  the  weather  braces  to  be  n>anned 
for  that  purpose;  but  he  changed  his  pur- 
pose when  he  observed  that  the  Laxvraice  was 
crippled  and  tluit  lier  fire  was  slackening  ; 
and  after  a  consultation  with  the  purser, 
Magrath,  who  was  an  experienced  seaman,  he 
agreed:  **  If  the  British  affect  the  '.veather 
gauge,  we  are  gone."  So  he  kept  his  place 
next  in  the  line  to  the  Caledonia^\\\\\Q\\  lingered 
behind,  because  she  was  a  dull  sailor,  and,  in 
the  light  wind,  was,  moreover,  retarded  in  her 
iiiovements  by  the  zeal  of  Turner,  her  com- 
mander, to  render  service  by  his  armament, 
which  enabled  him  to  keep  up  an  effective  fire 
from  the  distance. 

It  was  a  part  of  Elliott's  orders  to  close 
with  the  Queen  Charlotte^  but  he  held  it  to  be 
his  paramount  duty  to  keep  his  place,  a  half- 
cable's  length  behind  SXm:^  Caledonia  on  the  line 
as  designated  in  the  original  order  of  battle. 


The  Battle  of  Lake  Erie.        169 


even   though   the   flagship   of   the  squadron 
might  be  cut  to  pieces. 

So  Perry  lay  exposed  to  thrice  his  force, 
at  the  distance  of  fifteen  hundred  or  a  thou- 
sand feet,  aided  only  by  two  schooners  onhis 
beam  and  the  constant  help  of  the  Caledonia. 

Under  the  heavy  fire,  the  men  on  deck 
became  fewer  and  fewer ;  but  Ferry  con- 
tinued the  action  with  unabated  serenity. 
Parsons,  the  surgeon's  mate,  and  the  only 
man  in  the  fleet  who  was  then  able  to  render 
surgical  aid,  heard  a  call  for  him  at  a  small 
skylight  that  let  in  the  day  upon  his  apart- 
ment; and  as  he  stepped  up  he  recognized 
the  voice  of  his  commander,  who  said,  with  a 
placid  countenance  and  quiet  tone  : 

"  Doctor,  send  me  one  of  your  men  ;  '* 
meaning  one  of  the  siv  allowed  for  assistance 
to  the  wounded.  The  call  was  obeyed  ;  in  a 
few  minutes  more  it  was  successively 
renewed  and  obeyed,  till  at  the  seventh  call 


I  70         The  Battle  of  Lake  Erie. 


Parsons  could  only  answer  that  there  were 
no  more.  **  Are  there  any  that  can  pull  a 
rope?"  asked  Perry;  and  two  or  three  of  the 
wounded  crawled  on  deck,  to  lend  a  feeble 
hand  in  pulling  at  the  last  guns.  Wilson 
Mays,  who  was  so  sick  as  to  be  unht  for  the 
deck,  begged  to  be  of  use.  "  But  what  can 
you  do?"  was  the  question.  And  he  replied: 
"  I  can  sound  the  pump,  and  let  a  strong  man 
go  to  the  guns."  lie  accordingly  sat  down 
by  ti.L  pump,  and  at  the  end  of  the  tight  was 
found  at  his  post,  "  with  a  ball  through  his 
heart."  The  surgeon's  apartment  could  offer 
no  security  to  the  wounded.  In  the  shallow 
vessel  it  was  necessarily  on  a  level  with  the 
water,  an(!  was  repeatedly  perforated  by 
cannon-bnlls.  Once  as  the  surgeon  stooped 
to  dress  a  wound,  a  ball  passed  directly  over 
his  head,  and  must  have  destroyed  him,  had 
he  not  been  bending  down.  A  wounded 
midshipman,   just   as   he   left   the  surgeon's 


The  Battle  of  Lake  Eric,        171 


liands,  was  dashed  against  the  ship's  side  by 
a  cannon-ball.  On  deck,  the  bulwarks  were 
broken  in,  and  round  balls  passed  through 
with  little  obstruction  ;  but  as  long  as  he 
could.  Perry  kept  up  a  regular  and  effective 
fire,  so  that  the  Detroit^  of  whose  crew  many 
were  killed  or  wounded,  was  almost  dis- 
mantled. On  board  the  Queen  Charlotte,  the 
loss  was  most  important,  for  Finnis,  her  com- 
mander, **  a  noble  and  intrepid  officer,"  fell  at 
his  post,  and  Lieutenant  Stokes,  the  next 
officer  in  rank,  was  struck  senseless  by  a 
splinter.  On  board  the  Lai<.'renee  the  shrieks 
of  the  wounded  and  the  crash  of  timbers 
shattered  by  cannon-balls  were  still  heard; 
but  its  own  fire  grew  fainter  and  fainter  ;  one 
gun  after  another  was  dismounted.  l>cath 
had  the  mastery  ;  the  carnage  was  unparal- 
leled in  naval  warfare  ;  more  tiian  four-fifths 
of  the  effective  officeis  and  men  on  board 
H'ere  killed  or  disabled  by  wounds;  the  deck. 


172  The  Battle  of  Lake  Erie, 


\     M 


!        i 


in  spite  of  the  layer  of  sand,  was  slippery 
with  blood,  which  ran  down  the  sides  of  the 
siiip  ;  the  wounded  and  the  dead  lay  thickly 
strewed  everywhere  around.  To  fire  the 
last  gun,  Perry  himself  assisted.  At  last 
every  gun  in  the  ship's  battery  on  the  enemy's 
side  was  dismounted  ;  every  brace  and  bow- 
line was  shot  away;  the  vessel  became 
unmanageable,  in  spite  of  the  zeal  of  the 
commander  and  the  great  exertions  of  the 
sailing-master.  And  still  Perry  did  not 
despair,  but  had  an  eye  which  could  look 
through  the  cloud. 

Meantime  Elliott  watched  the  last  spasms 
of  the  Lawrence  as  it  lay  gas[)ing  in  its  ruins ; 
and  now  that  its  fire  was  dying  away,  that  no 
fresh  signal  was  ..oisted,  that  no  special  mes- 
sage was  sent  from  Perrv,  he  persuaded  him- 
self that  his  young  superior  lay  among  the 
slain. 


-I 
1; 


X 


V. 


-I 
i: 


u 


n 


The  Battle  of  Lake  Erie.        i  ']'^ 


THE  VICTORY. 


Believing  himself  now  the  chiet  commander 
of  the  squadron,  Elliott  hailed  the  Caledonia  and 
ordered  Lieutenant  Turner  to  bear  up  and 
make  way  for  him.  Turner  at  once,  without 
a  word,  put  up  his  helm  in  the  most  daring 
manner  and  made  sail  for  the  enemy's  line, 
using  his  small  armament  all  the  while  to  the 
best  advantage  ;  while  Elliott,  under  a  fresh- 
ening breeze,  passed  to  the  windward  of  the 
Caledonia.  The  Laivrcnce  lay  disabled  and 
silent ;  by  all  the  rules  of  naval  warfare  he 
should  have  given  her  protection  by  sailing 
between  her  and  the  Bxitish  ;  but  instead  of 
it,  he  kept  to  the  windward,  sheltered  by  the 
helpless  flag-ship,  to  which  he  sent  Magrath 
in  his  boat  with  a  few  brace  men  for  twelve- 
pound  round  shot,  to  replenish  his  own  nearly 
exhausted  stock;  and  then  firing,  as  he  went 
along,    on   the  Charlotte,  he   steered   for  the 


■  "■ 


1 74         '^^^^  Battle  of  Lake  Eric. 


head  of  tlic  British  line.  Perry,  who  saw 
with  the  swiftness  of  intuition  the  new  method 
that  must  be  chosen  now  that  the  first  had 
failed,  and  who  had  already  resolved  to  trans- 
fer his  flag,  with  the  certainty  that,  in  the 
crippled  state  ol  the  British,  "  victory  must 
perch  on  his  banner,"  immediately  entered 
his  boat  with  his  commander's  pennant  and 
his  little  brother,  and  bade  the  four  sailors 
whom  he  took  as  oarsmen  to  row  with  all 
speed  for  the  Niagara,  The  command  of  the 
Laivrcnce  fell  t(,>  Yarnall,  with  full  discretion- 
ary power  to  surrender  or  lu^ld  out  ;  but  he 
had  an  admonition  from  above  in  the  motto- 
flag  which  the  departing  hero  left  flying  at 
the  mast-head,  and  which  spoke  with  trumpet 
words:  "  Don't  (;iVE  ur  Tm<:  ship."  The 
flag  had  been  raised  amidst  the  shouts  of  the 
whole  squadron  and  the  promise  of  the  crew 
of  the  Lawrence  to  redeem  the  pledge.  Yar- 
nall consulted  with  Forest  and  with  Taylor; 


The  Battle  of  Lake  Erie.        i  75 


there  were  no  more  guns  that  could  be  used  ; 
and  had  there  been,  men  were  wanting 
to  handle  them.  Fourteen  persons  alone 
were  left  well  and  unhurt,  and  of  these, 
only  nine  were  seamen.  Further  resist- 
ance was  impossible ;  to  hold  out  might 
only  expose  life  recklessly.  Officers  and 
men  watched  anxiously  the  progress  of 
Perry  ;  they  saw  the  sailors  force  him  to  sit 
down;  they  saw  a  broadside  aimed  at  him, 
and  fall  harmlessly  around  him ;  they  saw 
marines  from  three  vessels  shower  at  him 
musket-balls,  which  only  ruffled  the  water  of 
the  lake  ;  and  at  fifteen  minutes  before  three, 
they  saw  the  cp.rs  dipping  for  the  last  time, 
and  their  beloved  commander  climb  the  side 
of  the  Niagara.  They  had  braved  the  enemy's 
fire  for  three  hours  ;  could  they  not  confide 
in  help  from  their  commodore  and  hold  out 
five  minutes  more?  True,  they  had  no 
means  of  offence  ;  but  the  battle-flag  with  its 


1 76         The  Battle  of  Lake  Erie. 


ii  I 


[ 


ringing  words  floated  over  their  heads  ;  they 
had  a  pledge  to  keep ;  they  had  an  enemy 
whose  dying  courage  they  should  refuse  to 
re-animate  ;  they  had  their  country's  flag  to 
preserve  unblemished  ;  they  had  the  honor 
of  that  day's  martyrs  to  guard  ;  they  had  a 
chief  to  whom  they  should  have  spared  an 
unspeakable  pain  ;  they  had  the  wounded  to 
consider,  who,  with  one  voice  cried  out: 
"  Rather  sink  the  ship  than  surrender!  Let 
us  all  sink  together!"  And  yet  a  shout  of 
triumph  from  the  enemy  proclaimed  to  both 
squadrons  that  the  flag  of  the  Lawrence  had 
been  lowered  ;  nor  did  they  then  forbode  how 
soon  it  was  to  be  raised  again. 

Meantime,  Perry  climbed  the  gangway  of 
the  Niagara^  and  the  superior  officer,  whom 
Elliott  had  thought  to  be  dead,  stood  before 
him,  radiant  with  the  indomitable  purpose  of 
winning  the  day ;  with  his  fortitude  unim- 
paired by  the  crowded  horrors  of  his  last 


The  Battle  of  Lake  Erie,        177 


two  li(jurs ;  black  with  the  smoke  of  the 
battle,  but  unscathed,  with  not  so  much  as  a 
wound  of  his  skin ;  with  not  a  hair  of  his 
head  harmed.     His  quick  eye  glanced  at  the 


at  her  hah 


that  thronged 


snip  s  rigging, 
the  deck,  and  his  buoyant  nature  promised 
him  a  harvest  of  glory  as  he  beheld  the 
Niagara,  '*  very  little  injured,"  even  ••per- 
fectly fresh,"  its  crew  in  the  best  condition, 
with  scarcely  more  than  three  men  hurt. 
Elliott's  mind  was  stunned,  and  completely 
dumfounded,  he  asked  the  foolish  question  : 
••  What  is  the  result  on  board  your  brig?" 
though  he  had  seen  that  the  brig  was  a  dis- 
abled wreck,  and  had  even  thought  that 
Perry  had  fallen.  ••  Cut  all  to  pieces  !"  said 
Perry,  whose  mind  had  instantly  condemned 
the  course  in  which  Elliott  was  steering,  and 
was  forming  his  plan  for  redeeming  the  day. 
••  I  have  been  sacrificed,"  he  added  ;  but  he 
checked  all  reproach  of  Elliott  and  blamed 


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1 78         7 Vie  Battle  of  Lake  Ei'ie. 

only  the  gun-boats,  which  had  been  still 
further  astern.  It  marks  how  ill  Elliott  was 
at  his  ease,  how  much  he  was  struck  with 
shame,  how  entirely  he  lost  his  self-possession, 
that  he  caught  at  the  word  which  seemed  to 
relieve  him  from  censure,  and  at  once  offered 
to  go  and  bring  up  the  gun-boats.  *'  Do  so," 
said  Perry,  for  Elliott  had  anticipated  his 
wish,  and  proposed  what  was  best  for  both. 
At  this,  Elliott,  the  second  officer  of  the 
squardron,  whose  right  it  would  be  to  take 
the  chief  command  if  Perry  should  be 
wounded,  left  his  own  brig,  and  went  in  the 
boat  on  the  paltry  errand  fit  only  for  a 
subordinate,  to  bear  a  superfluous  message  to 
the  gun-boats,  which,  under  their  gallant 
officers,  were  advancing  as  fast  as  possible. 

As  he  stepped  into  the  boat.  Perry,  run- 
ning up  his  pennant  and  hoisting  the  signal 
for  close  action,  which  was  instantly  an- 
swered  from   all   the   squardron   with   loud 


1 


The  Battle  of  Lake  Erie,        i  79 

cheers,  hove  to,  veered  ship,  altering  her 
course  eight  points,  set  foresail  and  topsails 
and  top-gallant  sail,  and  bore  down  to  cut 
the  British  line,  which  lay  at  the  distance  of 
a  half-mile. 

The  Lady  Prcvost,  disabled  by  the  loss  of 
her  rudder,  had  drifted  to  the  westward  and 
leeward  from  her  place  in  the  line.  Barclay, 
in  the  Detroit,  when  he  saw  the  prospect  of 
a  contest  with  a  second  brig,  had  attempted 
to  veer  round,  that  he  might  bring  his 
broadside  to  bear  ;  but  in  doing  it  he  had 
fallen  upon  the  Queen  Chartottv.  At  this 
moment,  Perr}?^,  whom  seven,  eight  or  ten 
minutes  in  the  freshened  breeze  had  brought 
up  with  the  British,  disregarding  their  fire, 
cut  their  line,  placing  the  Cliippewa  and  the 
Lady  Prevost  on  his  left,  the  Detroit  and 
Queen  CJiarlotte  on  his  right  ;  and  as  he  did 
so,  he  shortened  sail  to  make  sure  of  his  aim, 
and  coolly  and  with   fatal  accuracy,  at  half 


^ 

.  , 

. 

\ 

1 
i 
1 

1 

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1 

1 

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i; 

I 


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If  I 


i 


i 


i8o         77ie  Battle  of  Lake  Erie. 


pistol  shot,  he  raked  the  l.ady  Prcvost  with 
his  broadside  port,  while  he  poured  his  full 
starboard  broadside  on  the  Detroit  and  Queen 
Charlotte,  as  they  lay  entangled  and  for  the 
moment  helplessly  exposed.  The  loud, 
many-voiced  shriek  that  rose  from  the 
Detroit  told  that  the  tide  of  battle  had 
turned ;  but  what  was  worse  for  the 
British  was  that  their  gallant  commander, 
the  skillful  and  intrepid  but  ill-fated  Barclay, 
who  had  lost  an  arm  at  Trafalgar,  received 
a  desperate  wound  which  wa*s  to  deprive 
him  of  the  other.  The  wound  was  so  severe 
that  he  was  obliged  to  be  carried  below, 
leaving  the  direction  to  an  officer  of  little 
experience. 

Perry  now  ordered  the  marines  to  clear 
the  decks  of  the  Lady  Prevost ;  but  the  sur- 
vivors, terrified  by  the  raking  fire  which  they 
had  suffered,  fled  below,  leaving  on  deck  no 
one  but  their  commander,  who,  having  for 


The  Battle  of  Lake  Erie.         1 8 1 

the  moment  lost  his  senses  from  a  severe 
wound  in  the  head,  remained  at  his  post, 
gazing  about  with  a  vacant  stare.  Perry, 
merciful  even  in  battle,  stopped  his  guns  on 
that  side,  but  having  luffed  athwart  the  bows 
of  the  two  ships,  which  had  now  got  clear  of 
one  another,  he  continued  to  pour  into  them 
a  close,  deadly  fire.  Meantime,  Elliott,  heed- 
less of  exposure  to  danger,  had  passed  in  an 
open  boat  down  the  line,  and  repeated  to  the 
schooners  the  orders  which  Perry  had  suffi- 
ciently announced  by  signal.  Their  com- 
manders themselves,  with  sails  up  and  the 
use  of  large  oars,  hastened  into  close  fight. 
The  Trijypc,  under  Holdup  Stevens,  was 
following  hard  upon  the  Caledonia ;  so  that 
Elliott  got  on  board  the  SomerSy  a  schooner 
of  two  guns,  where  he  showed  his  rankling 
disconteni  and  unsettled  frame  of  mind  by 
sending  the  commanding  officer  below,  and 
beating    Ni'ith  his   trumpet    a    gunner    whc 


I- 

'  I 


1 

1 

III 

[1 

1  1  = 

sj: 

i    I 

A 

i\ 

f! 

M 


182        77/6'  Ihxitlc  of  Lake  Eric. 

disregarded   an  absurd  order,  and    did  just 
what  was  evidently  most  proper  to  be  done. 

The  small  vessels  having  by  this  time  *'  got 
within  grape  and  canister  distance,"  threw 
in  close  discharges  from  their  side.  The 
commanding  officer  of  the  Queen  Charlotte 
finding  himself  exposed  to  be  raked  ahead 
and  astern,  was  the  first  to  give  up  ;  one  of 
her  officers  appeared  on  the  taffrail  of  that 
ship  and  waved  a  white  handkerchief,  bent 
to  a  boarding-pike,  in  token  that  she  had 
struck.  The  Detroit  had  become  completely 
unmanageable  ;  every  brace  was  cut  away, 
the  mizzen-topmast  and  gaff  were  down,  the 
other  masts  badly  wounded,  not  a  stay  left 
forward,  the  hull  verv  much  shattered,  and 
a  number  of  her  guns  disabled  ;  at  three,  or 
a  few  minutes  after.  Lieutenant  Inglis  was, 
therefore,  under  the  necessity  of  hailing  the 
Americans,  to  say  he  surrendered.  The 
Hunter  yielded  at  the  same  time,  as  did  the 


The  Battle  of  Lake  Erie.        183 


Lady  Prcvost^  which  lay  to  leeward  under  the 
guns  of  the  Niagara.  The  CJiippczva,  on  the 
right  of  the  British  line,  and  the  Little  Belt 
on  the  extreme  left,  endeavored  to  escape, 
but  the  first  was  stopped  by  Champlin,  in  tiie 
Scorpion ;  the  other  by  Holdup  Stevens,  in 
the  Trippe. 

As  the  cannon  ceased,  an  awful  stillness 
set  in ;  nothing  was  heard  but  the  feeble 
groans  of  the  wounded,  or  the  dash  of  oars 
as  boats  glided  from  one  vessel  to  another. 

Possession  having  been  taken  of  the  con- 
quered fleet,  at  four  o'clock  Perry  sent  an 
express  to  Harrison  with  these  words: 

"Dear  General: — We  have  met  the  enemy,  and 
they  are  ours  ;  two  ships,  two  brigs,  one  schooner  and 
one  sloop." 

As  he  wrote  to  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy, 
a  religious  awe  seemed  to  come  over  him  at 
his  wonderful  preservation  in  the  midst  of 
great   and    long-continued    danger;  and    he 


i 


iri 


fm 


r    : 


'i 


w 


!    ;. 


184         The  B'xttlc  of  Lake  Erie, 


■,  I 


i  1 
•■ ' 

!  I 

::  : 


Si   I 

I 

I 


H 


attributed  his  signal  victory  to  the  pleasure 
of  the  Almighty. 

It  was  on  board  the  Lawrence  that  Perry 
then  received  the  submission  of  the  captives. 
This  was  due  to  the  sufferings  of  her  crew,  to 
the  self-sacrificing  courage  of  tiie  unnamed 
martyrs  who  still  lay  unburied  on  her  deck  ; 
to  the  crowd  of  wounded,  who  thought  their 
trials  well  rewarded  by  the  issue.  The 
witnesses  to  the  act  of  the  British  officers  in 
tendering  their  swords  were  chiefly  the  dead 
and  the  wounded,  and  the  scene  of  sorrow 
tempered  and  subdued  the  exultation  of 
triumph. 

The  conqueror  bade  his  captives  retain 
their  side-arms,  and  added  every  just  and 
unaffected  expression  of  courtesy,  mercy  and 
solicitude  for  their  wounded. 

When  twilight  fell,  the  mariners  who  had 
fallen  on  board  the  Lawrence  and  had  lain  in 
heaps  on  the  side  of  the  ship  opposite  to  the 


The  Battle  of  Lake  Erie.        185 


British,  were  sewed  up  in  their  hammocks, 
and,  with  a  cannon-ball  at  their  feet,  were 
dropped  one  by  one  into  the  lake. 

At  last,  but  not  till  his  day's  work  was 
done,  exhausted  nature  claimed  rest,  and 
Perry,  turning  into  his  cot,  slept  as  sweetly 
and  quietly  as  a  child. 

The  dawn  of  morning  revealed  the  deadly 
fierceness  of  the  combat.  Spectators  from 
the  island  found  the  sides  of  the  Laivrcnce 
completely  riddled  by  shot  from  the  long 
guns  of  the  British ;  her  deck  was  thickly 
covered  with  clots  of  blood  ;  fragments  of 
those  who  had  been  struck — hair,  brains, 
broken  pieces  of  bones  were  still  sticking  to 
the  rigging  and  sides.  The  sides  of  the 
Detroit  and  Queen  Charlotte  were  shattered 
from  bow  to  stern  ;  on  their  larboard  side 
there  was  hardly  a  hand's-breadth  free  from 
the  dent  of  a  shot.  Balls,  canister  and  grape 
were  found  lodged  in  th^.i-  bulwarks  ;  their 


I 


1 86         The  Battle  of  Lake  Erie. 

masts  were  so  much  injured  that  they  rolled 
out  in  the  first  high  wind. 

The  loss  of  the  British,  as  reported  by  Bar- 
clay, amounted  to  forty-one  killed,  of  whom 
three  were  officers,  and  ninety-four  wounded, 
of  whom  nine  were  officers.  Of  the  Ameri- 
cans, twenty-seven  were  killed  and  ninety-six 
wounded.  Of  these,  twenty-one  were  killed 
and  sixty-one  wounded  in  the  Laiurence,  and 
about  twenty  more  were  wounded  in  the 
Niagara  after  she  received  Perry  on  board. 

An  opening  on  the  margin  of  Putin  Bay 
was  selected  for  the  burial-place  of  the 
officers  who  had  fallen.  The  day  was  serene, 
the  breezes  hushed,  the  water  unruffled  by 
a  wavelet.  The  men  of  both  fleets  mourned 
together;  as  the  boats  moved  slowly  in 
procession,  the  music  played  dirges  to  which 
the  oars  kept  time ;  the  flags  showed  the 
signs  of  sorrow ;  solemn  minute-guns  were 
heard  from  the  ships.     The  spot  where  the 


The  Battle  of  Lake  Erie.        1S7 


funeral  train  went  on  shore  was  a  wild 
solitude ;  the  Americans  and  British  walked 
in  alternate  couples  to  the  graves,  like  men 
who,  in  the  presence  of  eternity,  renewed 
the  relation  of  brothers  and  members  of  one 
human  family,  and  the  bodies  of  the  dead 
were  likewise  borne  along  and  buried  alter- 
nately, English  and  American  side  by  side, 
and  undistinguished. 

The  wounded  of  both  fleets,  meeting  with 
equal  assiduous  care,  were  sent  to  Erie, 
where  Barclay  was  seen,  with  tottering  steps, 
supported  between  Harrison  and  Perry,  as 
he  walked  from  the  landing-place  to  his 
quarters. 

Perry  crowned  his  victory  by  his  modesty, 
forbearing  to  place  his  own  services  in  their 
full  light,  and  more  than  just  to  others. 
When,  in  the  following  year,  he  was  re- 
warded by  promotion  to  the  rank  of  captain, 
he  who  had  never  murmured  at  promotion 


ik\ 


h 


,t'  i 


1: 


i 


t    I  >' 


ilil! 


1 88 


The  Battle  of  Lake  Erie, 


made  over  liis  own  head,  hesitated  about 
accepting-  a  preferment  which  might  wound 
his  seniors. 

The  personal  conduct  of  Perry  throughout 
the  loth  of  September  was  perfect.  His 
keenly  sensitive  nature  n'  er  interfered  with 
his  sweetness  of  manner,  his  fortitude,  the 
soundness  of  his  judgment,  the  promptitude 
of  his  decision.  In  a  state  of  impassioned 
activity,  his  plans  were  wisely  framed,  were 
instantly  modified  as  circumstances  changed, 
and  were  executed  with  entire  coolness  and 
self-possession.  The  mastery  of  the  lakes, 
the  recovery  of  Detroit  and  the  far  West,  the 
capture  of  the  British  army  in  the  peninsula 
of  Upper  Canada,  were  the  immediate  fruits 
of  his  success.  The  imagination  of  the 
American  people  was  taken  captive  by  the 
singular  incidents  of  a  battle  in  which  every- 
thing seemed  to  have  flowed  from  the  per- 
sonal prowess  of  one  man  ;  and  wherever  he 


The  Battle  of  Lake  Eric.         1 89 


came  the  multitude  went  out  to  bid  him 
welcome.  Washington  Irving,  the  chosen 
organ  as  it  were  of  his  country,  predicted  his 
ever-increasing  fame.  Rhode  Island  cher- 
ishes his  glory  as  her  own ;  Erie  keeps  the 
tradition  that  its  harbor  was  his  ship-yard,  its 
forests  the  storehouse  for  the  frames  of  his 
chief  vessels,  its  houses  the  hospitable  shelter 
of  the  wounded  among  his  crews  ;  Cleveland 
graces  her  public  square  \v'ith  a  statue  of  the 
hero,  wrought  of  purest  marble,  and  looking 
out  upon  the  scene  of  his  glory  ;  the  tale 
follows  the  emigrant  all  the  way  up  the 
Straits,  and  to  the  head  of  Lake  Superior. 
Perry's  career  was  short  and  troubled  ;  he 
lives  in  the  memory  of  his  countrymen, 
clothed  in  perpetual  youth,  just  as  he  stood 
when  he  first  saw  that  his  efforts  were 
crowned  with  success,  and  could  say  in  his 
heart :     "  We    have  met  the  enemy,  and 

THEY   ARE   OURS." 


1 1 


Jli 


1  :       i] 

1^      'li 


t 


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1^    ^' 


I    I 


A  Day  with  Lord  Byron. 


FTER  a  ramble  of  tliree  or 

four  days   among*  the  Ap- 

<  ^^^r3sv:        penines,  to  climb  the  peak 

which  commands  a  view  of 
the  Tuscan  Sea  as  well  as 
of  the  Adriatic,  and  to  fol- 
low the  footsteps  of  Milton 
among  the  shades  of  Vallambrosa,  and  after 
lingering  through  nearly  th''ec  weeks  of 
spring  in  F  orence  and  its  .environs,  I  took 
leave  of  the  delighii'ul  city,'and  descending 


A  Day  ivith  Lord  Byron.       191 


the  valley  of  the  Arno,  went  througn  Pisa  to 
Leghorn.  The  time  on  which  I  had  fallen 
was  opportune  ;  the  Mediterranean  squad- 
ron of  the  United  States  lay  at  anchor  in  the 
harbor,  and  Lord  Byron,  having  expressed  a 
wish  to  see  an  American  frigate,  had  been 
invited  by  C'ommodore  Jones  to  inspect  the 
Constitution.  On  the  morning  of  the  21st  of 
May,  1822,  the  few  Americans  who  happened 
to  be  in  Leghorn  went  on  board  the  ship  at 
the  desire  of  its  officers.  About  noon,  Lord 
Byron,  followed  by  his  secretary,  mounted 
its  gangway.  As  he  stepped  upon  the  deck 
he  appeared  to  be  agitated,  and  it  was 
remarked  that  at  first  his  walk  was  unsteady  ; 
in  part  from  his  lameness,  in  part,  perhaps, 
from  an  apprehension  that  curious  gazers  of 
some  other  country  than  America  had  in- 
truded, for  the  sake  of  seeing  him  ;  but  find- 
ing all  present  to  be  Americans,  his  manner 
became  easy,  frank  and  cheerful.     Each  one 


'•  % 


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■I  it 

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I. 


I 


192        A  Day  ivith  Lord  Byron. 

of  the  officers  and  the  guests  was  introduced 
to  him.  His  hii^h  forehead,  dark  hair  and 
gray  eyes;  liis  features,  which  transmitted 
his  thoughts  and  feelings  as  they  rose,  set  off 
his  fame  as  a  poet;  and  every  one  who  came 
near  him  held  that  day  a  happy  one.  One 
lady,  of  great  personal  beauty,  put  out  her 
hand,  and  saying,  "  When  I  return  to  Phila- 
delphia, my  friends  will  ask  for  some  token 
that  1  have  spoken  with  Lord  Byron,"  she 
gently  took  a  rose  which  he  wore  in  the  but- 
ton-hole of  his  black  frock-coat.  He  was 
pleased  with  her  unaffected  boldness,  and  the 
next  day  sent  her  a  charming  note  and  a  copy 
of  "  Outlines  to  Faust "  as  a  more  durable 
memento. 

On  that  day,  I  had  little  opportunity  to 
converse  with  him  ;  but  I  received  an  invita- 
tion to  visit  him  at  Monte  Nero.  He  gave 
the  morning  to  the  officers  and  to  a  thorough 
examination   of   the  ship,  of   which    he   well 


A   Day  ivitJi  Lord  Byron.        193 


>y 

)le 


to 


knew  the  history.  It  was  a  question  whether 
he  should  receive  the  honor  of  a  salute;  but 
as  he  filled  no  public  station,  and  represented 
not  his  country  or  its  sovereign,  but  only  all 
the  Muses,  the  stern  commodore  paid  no  heed 
to  the  wishes  of  Byron's  younger  admirers. 

From  the  Constitution,  Captain  Chauncey 
took  Byron  to  the  Ontario,  and  there  the 
junior  officers  could  more  freely  indulge  their 
enthusiasm.  x\s  he  passed  through  their 
quarters,  his  eye  lighted  upon  a  New  York 
edition  of  his  poems.  He  took  it  ui>  with 
every  appearance  of  pleasure,  and  seemed  to 
interpret  it  as  an  earnest  of  his  fame.  As  he 
left  the  vessel,  a  salute  was  fired,  the  yards 
were  manned,  and  three  cheers  were  given 
with  glorious  heartiness  and  union. 

The  next  morning,  I  drove  out  from  Leg- 
horn to  Monte  Nero,  and  at  about  eleven, 
sent  a  short  note  to  Lord  Byron,  to  inquire 


'ii 


ill 


194        ^   ^^^y  "^^'^^^^  Lord  Byron. 

when  I  might  wait  on  him.     His  answer  came 
immediately,  and  it  was  : 

"  I  shall  be  very  happy  in  your  visit.  Could  you  make 
it  convenient  about  an  hour  hence,  for  I  have  beenlazy 
to-day  and  am  not  yet  dressed,  and,  I  am  ashamed  to 
say,  hardly  awake." 

So  I  amused  myself  for  an  hour  in  looking 
at  the  sea,  which  lay  before  me  at  about 
three  miles'  distance,  and  in  plucking  mj-rtle, 
with  which  the  side  of  the  mountain  was  over- 
grown. Punctually  at  the  end  of  the  hour,  I 
made  my  way  to  Byron's  villa.  The  house 
was  of  brick,  painted  a  flaming  red,  and  stood 
in  the  midst  of  cultivated  grounds,  which  had 
no  unusual  attraction.  The  country  in  the 
rear  was  not  picturesque  ;  the  whole  aspect 
was  prosaic  and  sultr3\  It  must  have  been 
an  undesirable  summer  residence,  except 
that  on  the  west  it  was  near  the  Mediter- 
ranean. 

I  was  shown  at  once   into  a  spacious,  cool 


A   Day  with  Lord  Byron,        195 


had 
the 
)ect 
een 
ept 
ter- 

:ool 


room,  and  in  a  moment  Lord  Byron  joined 
mc,  offering-  me  his  liand.  He  began  by  ask- 
ing many  questions  about  the  squadron,  and 
generally  about  our  ships  of  war  and  our  bat- 
tles at  sea.  lie  appeared  to  be  singularly 
well  informed  of  the  duels  which  had  taken 
place  among  distinguislicd  American  naval 
officers,   knowintr  the  names  of   the  combat- 


its. 


Jthi 


.f  th 


)f  th( 


_  causes 

quarrels.  lie  understood,  in  some  measure, 
the  political  divisions  in  the  United  States, 
and  gave  his  sympathy  to  the  Democratic 
party.  Of  American  men  of  letters  he  enum- 
erated two  or  three  with  respect ;  among 
them  Mr.  Edward  Everett;  but  he  spoke 
most  of  Washington  Irving.  He  had  been 
delighted  with  "  Knickerbocker's  History  of 
New  York,"  which  beseemed  to  prefer  of  all 
Irving's  works ;  and  though  he  thought 
Irving's  style  became  afterward  **  rather 
florid,"  he  commended  it  very  highly.     On 


f  i 


'    1, 


l!    i 


196        A  Day  with  Lord  Byron. 

'  . 

my  expressing  pleasure  at  hearing  from  him 
the  praise  of  our  American  favorite,  Byron 
replied  that  his  esteem  for  Irving  was  com- 
mon to  all  his  countrymen. 

He  spoke  a  great  deal  of  a  tour  which  he 
was  bent  on  making  through  America  ;  he 
believed  that  he  should  judge  its  people  with 
impartiality;  thus  far,  he  said,  none  had  gone 
among  them  but  speculators ;  he  should  go 
unprejudiced,  and  would  certainly  keep  him- 
self unbiased  by  prepossessions  in  favor  of 
his  native  country. 

Referring  to  his  last  journey  from  England 
to  Switzerland,  he  described  his  tour  on  the 
Rhine  as  having  given  him  unmingled  pleas- 
ure ;  he  liked  the  people  as  well  as  the 
scenery ;  and  regretted  only  his  ignorance 
of  the  German  language,  and  that  he  had 
not  seen  more  of  Germany  and  its  inhabit- 
ants. I  told  him  how  often  his  poems  had 
been  translated  into  German,  and  how  widely 


A  Day  luith  Lord  Byron.         197 

ihey  were  read ;  that  the  court  preacher  at 
Berlin  had  made  a  version  of  his  Hebrew 
melodies;  that  a  canto  of  "  Childe  Harold" 
had  been  selected  at  Leipzig  for  the  subject 
of  a  prize  translation. 

He  asked  me  if  I  knew  Goethe.  It  had 
been  my  good  fortune  to  have  repeatedly 
seen  the  great  epicurean  poet,  philosopher 
and  critic,  who  was  as  unlike  Byron  as  pos- 
sible ;  bearing  all  things  complacently  exxept 
interruption  when  writing ;  serene  even  in 
his  loves,  having  a  heart  as  clear  as  crystal 
and  as  cold ;  the  friend  and  minister  of  a 
prince,  yet  meditative  rather  than  active; 
dwelling  apart,  and,  as  it  were,  in  high 
regions,  removed  beyond  the  cares  of  time ; 
no  ruler  of  the  souls  of  people,  but  a  god 
among  his  countrymen  ;  his  mind  an  unruffled 
surface  that  mirrored  his  age,  and  clothed 
its  skepticism  in  verse  ;  gifted  with  a  refined 
sensibility,  that  defied  the  rules  of  inductive 


r 


'iHi 


ji;  -li 


198        A  Day  with  Lord  Byron. 

science,  he  yet  looked  nature  in  the  eye, 
discerned  analogies  from  afar,  divined  the 
answer  to  her  sacred  riddle,  and  heard  the  cho- 
rus of  the  flowers  reveal  the  secret  of  the  law 
which  they  obeyed  in  their  change  of  form  ; 
no  martyr,  and  with  nothing  of  the  spirit  of 
martyrdom  ;  never  deeply  touched  by  the 
sufferings  of  nations  in  his  time  ;  contemplat- 
ing with  equal  indifference  the  stormy  revo- 
lutions among  the  objects  of  his  passion,  and 
the  overturns  of  empire  in  America  and  in 
Europe.  Twice  I  was  with  him  at  Weimar, 
and  once  on  a  bright  autumn  morning  Goethe 
had  received  me  in  a  garden  attached  to 
the  apartments  which  he  occupied  in  Jena. 
Dressed  in  a  frock-coat,  without  a  waist- 
coat, and  with  not  the  cleanest  of  linen,  he 
came  with  the  stately  step  and  majesty  of 
mien  that  poets  attribute  to  the  Olympian 
Jupiter.  As  I  walked  for  an  hour  or  more  by 
his  side,  he  spoke  of  many  things,  but  par- 


A  Day  with  Lord  Byron.         199 


ticularly  of  Byron,  saying  that  he  devoured 
greedily  everything  which  Byron  wrote; 
that  he  admired  "  Manfred,"  and  all  the 
more  willingly  because  it  appeared  to  him  to 
have  been  imitated  from  liis  own  "Faust ;" 
that "  Don  Juan,"  of  which  two  cantos  only 
had  then  appeared,  was  the  most  full  of  life 
and  genius ;  that  its  manner  was  in  keeping 
with  the  subject;  and  speaking  of  English  as 
though  he  knew  it  well  enough  to  pass  judg- 
ment on  style  and  diction,  he  pretended  to 
find  the  model  of  the  polysyllabic  rhymes  in 
the  satires  and  pleasantries  of  Swift. 

To  this  Byron  replied  that  the  popularity 
of  his  works  in  Germany  was  new  to  him, 
and  would  console  him  for  the  abuse  he  was 
constantly  receiving  in  England  ;  that  he  had 
dedicated  one  of  his  late  works  to  Goethe, 
though  his  publisher,  for  some  reason,  had 
omitted  the  dedication  without  asking  his 
leave   to  do  so  ;   that  he   should   take  more 


2CX)       A   Day  with  Lord  Byron. 

effectual  care  that  a  poem  which  he  was 
about  to  print  should  be  inscribed  to  Goethe. 
As  to  "  Manfred,"  he  declared  that  he  deemed 
it  honor  enough  to  have  "  Manfred  "  men- 
tioned with  "  Faust,"  but  that,  at  the  time  of 
writing  it,  he  had  never  read  "  Faust,"  and 
knew  nothing  about  it,  except  that,  a  short 
time  before  he  had  conceived  the  idea  of 
his  own  drama.  Monk  Lewis  had  translated 
to  him  some  of  the  scenes  of  that  of  Goethe, 
and  had  given  him  an  idea  of  its  plan. 

Shelley,  he  added,  was  translating  "  Faust," 
and  this  led  him  to  a  defense  of  Shelley. 

"  You  may  have  heard,"  said  he,  "  many 
foolish  stories  of  his  being  a  man  of  no  prin- 
ciple, an  atheist,  and  all  that ;  but  he  is  not." 
And  he  explained  what  appeared  in  Shelley 
as  atheism  was  only  a  subtle  metaphysical 
idealism. 

He  went  on  to  defend  himself.  He  owned 
very  frankly  that  many  of  his  friends  in  Italy 


A  Day  with  Lord  Byron.         201 


as  well  as  in  England,  had  entreated  him 
not  to  go  on  with  "  Don  Juan."  He  apolo- 
gized for  its  immorality,  pleading  in  extenua- 
tion the  example  of  Fielding,  and  that  there 
were  much  worse  things  in  Smollett  than  in 
anything  he  himself  had  written.  He  asked, 
too,  what  the  fault-finders  would  say  to  the 
introduction  to  Goethe's  "  Faust." 

He  then  spoke  of  the  clamor  which  had 
risen  against  him  from  all  sides  in  England. 
He  said,  with  an  air  of  indifference,  he  had 
heard  that  Jeffrey  was  preparing  a  new  and 
a  severe  article  against  him  in  the  Edinburg 
Review ;  that  a  letter  of  remonstrance  had 
been  addressed  to  his  publisher — "  not  to 
me,"  said  he,  "  for  me  they  deem  incorrigi- 
ble." Among  other  enemies,  he  observed 
that  the  king  (George  IV.)  was  determined 
on  persecuting  him. 

**  I  never  went  to  court,"  he  said,  "  and  one 
evening  at  a  ball  I  was  presented  to  the  king 


202        A  Day  with  Lord  Byron. 

(then  prince-regent),  at  the  king's  own  request, 
not  at  mine.  I  never  asked  to  be  presented, 
and  yet  the  king  complains  of  me,  that  after 
he  had  treated  me  so  civilly  i  had  written 
eight  lines  against  him.  The  lines  were 
written  before  I  was  presented  to  him."*  ,, 
He  turned  round  to  hand  me  one  of  the 
pamphlets  written  in  abuse  of  him,  but  then 
corrected  himself,  saying  he  had  just  sent  it 
with  others  to  the  binder.  His  manner 
affected  careless  ease  and  gayet3%  but  it  was 

*  The  eight  lines  referred  to  are  those  "  to  a  lady 
weeping,"  the  Princess  Charlotte  of  Wales,  who  was 
said  to  have  burst  into  tears  on  hearing  that  the  Whigs 
could  not  form  a  cabinet. 

"  Weep,  daughter  of  a  royal  line, 
A  sire's  disgrace,  a  realm's  decay. 
Ah !  happy  if  each  tear  of  thine 
Could  vrash  a  father's  fault  away! 

"  Weep — for  thy  tears  are  virtue's  tears — 
Auspicious  to  these  suffering  isles: 
And  be  each  drop  in  future  years 
Repaid  thee  by  thy  people'^  smiles !" 


A  Day  ivith  Lord  Byron.      203 

plain  tome  that  he  had  been  deeply  wounded  ; 
that,  with  a  genuine  contempt  for  the  cavils 
of  impertinent  mediocrity,  he  valued  the 
good  opinion  of  his  own  countrymen  beyond 
the  praise  of  all  the  world  beside,  and  that 
he  specially  deplored  the  expected  censure 
from  Jeffrey.  Yet  he  was  too  proud  to  yield 
to  menace  ;  and  when  he  was  attacked,  it 
was  his  nature  to  defy.  He  seemed  ready 
to  say  with  one  of  his  own  heroes  : 

"  No  ;  though  that  cloud  were  thunder's  worst, 
And  charged  to  crush  him,  let  it  burst." 

He  alluded  with  evident  satisfaction  to  the 
part  he  had  taken  in  defending  Pope.  Of 
Shakespeare  he  disclaimed  being  one  of  the 
most  enthusiastic  admirers,  and  thought  he 
had  by  some  b^en  overrated.  He  said  that 
Johnson's  preface  to  Shakespeare  contained 
the  most  correct  judgment  of  Shakespeare 


ir 


Ill 

i 


204        A  Day  with  Lord  Byron, 

as  a  poet ;  that  it  expressed  his  opinion  of 
Shakespeare  exactly. 

Of  Italy  Byron  spoke  with  affectionate 
interest.  He  deplored  the  success  of  the 
Austrians  in  putting  down  the  Neapolitan 
revolution,  which  happened  during  his 
residence  at  Ravenna.  **  Had  the  Neapol- 
itans fought  bravely,"  he  said,  "  we  were  all 
ready  to  rise  in  the  rear  of  their  invaders." 
He  said  that  the  ignominious  defeat  of  the 
revolutionists  alone  prevented  an  outbreak 
in  the  Romagna  ;  that  he  was  then  compelled 
to  leave  Ravenna,  because  all  his  friends 
were,  one  after  another,  driven  into  exile  ; 
the  priests  stuck  up  an  affichc,  threatening 
him  with  he  knew  not  what.  But  for  the 
future  of  Italy  Byron  was  full  of  hope. 

"  The  young  men  of  Italy,"  he  said,  '*  are 
in  a  fair  way  ;  they  long  for  liberty  ;  let  them 
secure  that,  and  afterward  study  politics 
and  learn  how  to  govern." 


A  Day  with  Lo7'd  Byron.       205 


The  land  from  Monte  Nero  slopes  down- 
ward toward  the  Mediterranean.  Lord 
Byron,  who  had  made  an  excuse  for  leaving 
me  a  moment,  asked  me  to  go  into  another 
room,  which  commanded  a  view  of  the  sea. 
He  took  me  to  the  window  to  point  out  the 
pleasant  views,  and  under  his  direction  I 
caught  a  glimpse  of  Napoleon's  prison,  the 
island  of  Elba.  On  turning  to  take  leave,  to 
my  great  surprise,  I  found  a  lady  had  entered 
noiselessly  and  taken  a  seat  on  the  sofa.  It 
was'the  Countess  Guiccioli.  She  appeared  to 
me  to  be  about  twenty-five,  though  her  age 
was  really  less.  Her  hair  was  a  light  auburn  ; 
her  complexion  very  fair ;  her  cheeks 
delicately  rosy ;  her  forehead  rather  high 
and  of  the  purest  white,  while  her  fine  large 
eyes  were  dark,  expressing  calmness  and 
gentleness.  Her  nose  was  a  perfect  model 
for  a  sculptor;  her  mouth  was  small,  and 
when   she   spoke,   showed  faultless   rows  of 


Hi. 


206        A  Day  with  Lord  Byron. 


teeth ;  her  smile  was  singularly  pleasing 
one  would  have  said  that  innocence  and 
repose  were  the  leading  expression  of  her 
countenance  ;  she  seemed  incapable  of  wishing 
ill  to  any  one.  I  had  seen  and  have  often  seen 
more  splendid  beauty,  but  her  manner  was 
that  of  uncommon  gentleness  and  amiability. 
I  had  the  seat  nearest  her.  She  was  very, 
very  fond  of  music,  and  Lord  Byron  had 
just  imported  for  her  a  piano-forte  from 
Vienna.  She  praised  the  superior  excellence 
of  the  instrument ;  and  had  much  to  say  or 
to  inquire  about  the  great  love  of  the  Ger- 
mans for  music;  the  social  habits  of  the 
Berlinese  ;  the  manner  in  which  **  Lalla 
Rookh  "  had  been  represented  as  a  pageant 
at  the  court  of  Berlin,  and  many  tilings 
relating  to  France  and  Italy.  The  conversa- 
tion was  in  Italian,  which  as  far  as  I  could 
judge.  Lord  Byron  spoke  perfectly  well.  In 
the  course  of  it  he  had  something  to  say  in 


A  Day  with  Lord  Byron.         207 


praise  of  the  Italian  language,  which  he 
appeared  to  think  more  beautiful  than  the 
English;  as  if  unmindful  that  the  English  is 
the  best,  the  simplest,  the  truest  of  all,  and 
that  he  had  written  in  it  much  that  will 
endure  as  long  as  the  language  is  spoken  or 
remembered. 

It  was  late  in  the  day  when  I  left  Monte 
Nero.  Lord  Byron  had  been  throughout  most 
perfectly  courteous  and  friendly,  adding 
one  civil  thing  to  another  and  detaining 
me  by  some  new  suggestion,  when  I  offered 
once  or  twice  to  take  leave.  I  could  not 
doubt  that  the  scorn  which  he  sometimes 
professed  for  English  opinion  was  only  an 
evidence  of  how  greatly  he  would  have 
valued  the  esteem  of  the  best  in  England, 
and  how  keenly  his  exquisitely  sensitive 
nature  suffered  from  their  reproaches.  In 
estimating  his  rank  among  poets,  it  must  be 
remembered  that  he  died  at  thirty-six  ;  at  an 


if 


208        A  Day  with  Lord  Byron. 

age  when  Milton  had  not  pr  )cluced  his  epic  ; 
when  Dryden's  genius  had  giv&n  imperfect 
evidence  of  his  great  powers  ;  when  Scott 
had  become  known  only  by  his  **  Lay  of  the 
Last  Minstrel;"  when  Schiller  had  not  pro- 
duced the  magnificent  dramas  that  are  his 
crowning  glory ;  when  Goethe  had  not 
written  his  "  Iphigenie,"  or  "  Tasso,"  or 
"  Faust."  And  Byron's  mind,  like  Schiller's, 
needed  time  to  purify  its  passions  and  clear 
itself  of  imperfections.  But  the  lot  of  Byron 
has  been  hardest  of  all.  His  wife,  against 
the  first  advice  of  her  counsel,  insisted  on  a 
separation  from  him,  refusing  to  attempt  to 
cherish  in  him  the  better  life  which  might 
still  have  risen  up  ;  his  chosen  friend,  to 
whose  fidelity  he  intrusted,  with  touching 
earnestness,  the  defense  of  his  good  name, 
accepted  money  from  his  enemies  to  burn  the 
carefully  prepared  memoir  that  he  prepared 
for  posterity  ;  he  would  willingly  hav^e  made 


A  Day  with  Lord  Byron.        209 


ht 
to 


he 


a  sacrifice  of  himself  to  give  liberty  and  unity 
to  Italy,  but  the  ill-preparedness  of  her  sons 
shipwrecked     his    hopes ;     to     Greece     he 
devoted    his   fortune   and   his  life,  and  died 
before   he    saw    her   emancipation    secured. 
Sorrow  seemed  to  claim  him  as  her  own,  and 
to  give  him  no  compensation  but  the  power 
of  expressing    sorrow   as  no  other  English 
poet    has    done.      His   best   thoughts   were 
wrung  from   him   by  emotions  of  excessive 
grief.    His  genius,  like  the  lightning,  wrapped 
its  brilliancy  in  the  darkness  of  the  blackest 
clouds  ;  but,  though  he  called  himself  a  mis- 
anthrope, he  melted  at  the  sight  of  distress, 
was  ever  ready  to  help  the  poor  and  the  suf- 
fering  with  his  purse  and  his  sympathy,  and 
spoke  and  acted  and  died  for  the  liberties  of 
mankind. 

In  his  poems,  he  was  not  so  much  the  rep- 
resentative of  his  native  country,  as  of  the 
state  of  the  European  mind  in  his  time;  yet 


,.1  ■ 


I'' 

Ir 

1 

1 

i 

1- 

^lo        A  Day  with  Lord  Byron. 

even  in  Britain  he  takes  rank  as  the  first 
English  poet  of  this  century,  while  on  the 
continent  that  rank  is  awarded  to  him  with- 
out  a  peer.  Tn  America,  his  popularity  has 
declined  less  than  in  England  ;  but  it  is  the 
renovated  nation  of  the  Greeks  that  fervently 
cherish  his  memory,  as  the  unselfish  martyr 
to  their  independence. 


Edward  Everett, 


^^^  N  the  death  of  Edward  Ever- 
ETT  I  have  lost  the  oldest 
friend  that  remained  to  me.  I 
saw  him  for  the  first  time  in 
August,  1 8 1 3,  more  than  a  half 
century  ago,  on  my  examin- 
ation for  admission  to  Har- 
vard College.  I  was  then 
twelve  years  old,  he  nineteen.  He  was  at 
the  time  the  college  tutor  of  the  Latin 
language,  and  for  one  quarter  at  Cambridge 


1 


^llil 


212 


Edward  Everett. 


El    ^ 


our  class  read  with  him  the  first  books  of 
Livy.  A  marvelous  account  of  the  ability  he 
had  displayed  in  the  four  years  of  his  stu- 
dent's life,  his  undisputed  reputation  as  the 
best  scholar  that  had  been  graduated  within 
the  traditions  of  that  day,  a  grave  and  sedate 
and  earnest  manner,  a  sanctity  of  appearance 
that  made  him  in  youth  an  object  of  venera- 
tion, gave  him  over  our  class  an  influence 
such  as  no  other  instructor  exercised.  In  a 
few  weeks  he  was  invited  to  take  the  place 
left  vacant  by  the  lamented  Buckminster,  and 
at  the  end  of  the  term  he  bade  us  an  affec- 
tionate farewell.  I  remember  to  this  day  the 
aspect  of  holiness  which  he  wore,  as  he  made 
us  a  parting  speech,  full  of  the  best  counsels 
and  exhortations.  In  the  pulpit  his  manner 
at  that  time  was  more  sober  and  calm  and 
solemn  than  at  any  later  period.  Crowds 
thronged  to  hear  him  ;  he  loved  occasionally 
to   treat   subjects   of  critical   learning ;    the 


Ediuard  Everett. 


213 


oldest  doctors  in  the  temple  were  amazed  at 
his  skill  in  disputation ;  and  the  young  of 
both  sexes  hung  with  delight  on  his  fervid  but 
chaste  and  modest  eloquence. 

In  the  latter  part  of  1814  he  traveled  to  the 
South,  having  for  one  of  his  chief  objects  to 
visit  Jetlerson  ;  but  calls  from  home  forced 
him  back  from  Washington.  In  December, 
John  Adams,  then  in  his  eightieth  year,  thus 
heralded  his  fame  to  the  great  author  of  our 
declaration  of  independence  :  "  The  most 
exalted  of  our  geniuses  in  Boston  have  an 
ambition  to  see  Monticello,  its  library  and 
its  sage.  I  lately  gave  a  line  of  introduction 
to  Mr.  Everett,  our  most  celebrated  youth." 
He  had  been  a  clergyman  for  about  a  year, 
and  was  then  but  twenty. 

Soon  elected  Professor  of  Greek  literature 
in  Harvard,  where  the  promise  of  his  return 
was  hailed  with  rapturous  delight  by  the 
students,    he   repaired   to  the  University  of 


r 


'ir 


214 


Edward  Everett, 


\ 
I 


Gottingen  for  better  preparation  for  the 
office.  Here  among  those  most  accomplished 
in  learning  and  most  famed  for  industry,  he 
secured  the  same  degree  of  esteem  as  at  home. 
He  had  a  miracuk)us  facility  in  acquiring 
learning  ;  this  is  one  of  the  marked  features 
of  his  intellect,  in  which  I  never  knew  any 
one  that  excelled  him.  He  mastered  Greek 
with  an  ease  that  was  the  admiration  of  his 
teachers ;  Dissen,  the  great  enthusiast  for 
Plato  and  Pindar  and  the  Greek  tragedians, 
a  solitary  recluse,  learned  to  bear  him  affec- 
tion ;  and  before  long  he  spoke  and  wrote 
German  so  well,  that  at  the  request  of  the 
venerable  Eichhorn,  the  editor,  he  con- 
tributed a  review  to  the  great  Gottingen 
periodical. 

It  was  during  his  residence  abroad  that 
my  intimate  relations  with  Everett  began. 
Just  as  he  was  leaving  London,  when  fullest 
of  engagements,  and  when  every  moment  of 


luhoard  Everett. 


215 


en 


his  time  was  most  precious,  he  heard  that  I, 
then  seventeen,  was  on  my  way  through  HoU 
iand  to  Gottingen,  and  he  found  time  to 
write  in  advance  and  send  to  meet  me  at 
Amsterdam  a  very  long  letter,  full  of 
encouragement  and  the  most  minute  and 
carefully  considered  detail  of  instructions 
and  advice.  An  elder  brother  could  not 
have  shown  more  of  guardian  care.  I  men- 
tion this,  only  to  bring  out  another  trait  in 
his  character.  He  never  missed  an  oppor- 
tunity to  do  a  kind  office  to  a  fellow  man, 
especially  to  a  man  of  letters.  All  his  life 
long  he  was  true  to  this  quality  in  his  nature. 
He  could  not  be  so  occupied  but  he  would 
find  time  for  a  good  word  to  any  young 
scholar  that  needed  it,  and  when  a  novice  in 
authorship  ventured  to  come  before  the  pub- 
lic, he  was  sure  to  ponder  upon  the  best 
way  of  introducing  him  to  favor,  or  shielding 
him  from  censure,  or,  if  need  were,  breaking 


1*1 


Tf 


2l6 


Eihvard  Everett. 


his  fall.  At  the  same  time  he  was  chary  of 
his  hours  and  even  of  his  minutes. 

A  young  man  who  had  a  fondness  for  clas- 
sical studies,  and  was  hesitating  whether  to 
devote  himself  specially  to  them  as  a  pursuit 
for  life,  Everett  advised  to  a  different  choice, 
and  added  :  '  Vou  see,  1  have  placed  so  much 
confidence  in  you  as  not  to  hesitate  in  advis- 
ing you  to  this,  because  my  own  studies 
happen  to  be  devoted  to  the  other.  No  one 
thing  does  or  will  give  mc  greater  pleasure 
than  to  witness  any  sort  of  improvement  in 
America ;  and  if  you  should  find  your  taste 
incline  you  to  those  pursuits  which  fall  with- 
in my  sphere,  you  may  depend  upon  my 
counting  every  success  you  meet  as  a  new 
pleasure  of  my  own." 

Here  another  marked  characteristic  of 
Everett's  mind  is  portrayed  with  exact  truth. 
He  took  pleasure  in  every  success  that  any 
man  could  gain,  alike  in  other  pursuits  and 


Edward  Everett, 


217 


id 


in  those  kindred  to  his  own.  He  never  doled 
out  scant  praise.  He  never  withheld  from 
any  one  the  applause  that  was  due.  I  never 
could  discern  in  him  the  slightest  vestige  of 
envy.  His  heart  expanded  at  observing 
merit  in  others;  and  if  siMiietimes  he  was  too 
forbearing  or  too  complacent  toward  medi- 
ocuty,  he  gloriously  redeemed  that  foible 
by  the  keenest  and  most  willing  perception 
of  all  kinds  of  excellence.  His  own  culture 
of  a  particular  branch  only  gave  him  taste  to 
discern  and  promptness  to  acknowledge  any 
happy  achievement  of  others  in  the  same 
class  of  effort.  He  would  hear  a  public 
speaker  do  well,  relish  his  performance  with 
the  liveliest  pleasure,  and  dwell  on  its  merits 
with  nice  discrimination  and  the  heartiest 
approval. 

Returning  home  to  occupy  his  post  as 
Professor  of  Greek  Literature  at  Harvard, 
he  burst  upon  the  world  around  him  with  a 


,v 


\ 


\\\\ 


I    .  ! 

i   i      ! 


f   •' 


l| 


2l8 


Edward  Everett, 


fertility  and  variety  of  industry,  which  even 
went  beyond  highly  raised  expectations.  In 
part  this  was  the  natural  outflow  of  his  own 
exuberant  and  buoyant  genius;  in  part  per- 
haps it  proceeded  from  something  like  neces- 
sity. He  inherited  no  fortune ;  nothing  but 
the  taste  for  intellectual  culture  and  purity  ; 
he  was  the  most  successful  member  of  a 
numerous  family  ;  and  his  affection  for  those 
who  were  bound  to  him  by  ties  of  blood  could 
never  be  exhausted.  His  manner  of  life  was 
marked  by  liberality  and  elegance ;  but  he 
was  simple  in  his  habits,  and  was  never  given 
to  ostentation  ;  and  bv  the  fruits  of  his  own 
exertion  he  was  able  to  be  of  service  to  those 
who  were  akin  to  him  and  to  others.  There 
were  those  whom  he  never  ceased  to  care  for, 
even  when  the  burden  became  very  heavy 
for  him  to  bear.  Here  is  another  leading  trait 
in  his  character ;  he  gave  away  money  not 
thoughtlessly  but  freely,  always  with  reflect- 


Edward  Everett, 


219 


ing-  judgment,  as  befitted  one  who  had  not 
much  to  spare  and  who  desired  to  do  the  most 
good;  he  kept  up  his  habit  of  generosity  al 
ways;  and  in  proportion  to  his  own  income, 
there  was  perhaps  no  one  who  gave  more,  or 
showed  himself  more  free  from  everything 
that  is  sordid.  His  happiness  seemed  to 
centre  in  cjthcrs;  and  where  is  there  a  man 
who  habitually  did  so  much  work  for  others 
and  so  little  for  himself  alone?  His  activity 
gave  an  impulse  to  all  kinds  of  study  ;  to  the 
study  of  ancient  law,  of  art,  as  well  as  of  classic 
literature.  His  manner  of  speaking  was  irre- 
sistible. Kirkland,  the  President  ot  Harvard 
College,  who  was  remarkable  for  his  love  of 
all  his  good  scholars,  referring  to  a  cast 
which  adorned  Ev^ERETT's  library,  said  of 
him,  that  in  the  animation  of  his  eloquence 
he  looked  like  his  own  Apollo.  And  in  the 
midst  of  the  toil  which  his  multiplied  courses 
of  lectures   brought   upon   him,  he  became 


T 


!     i' 


'i'^ 


i ».  Ill 


2  20 


Eciivard  Everett. 


editor  of  the  North  American  Reviezv.  For 
a  time  the  world  mixed  with  its  admiration 
that  disposition  to  blame,  which  is  perhaps 
necessary  lo  bring  out  talent  in  its  perfection. 
To  be  first  in  so  many  branches,  in  scholar- 
ship, in  eloquence,  in  English  style,  in 
general  letters,  and  among  conservative 
people  to  go  off  the  old  track  and  move  upon 
a  broader  guage  of  his  own,  was  more  than 
could  be  borne  without  jealousy;  but  if 
others  were  ever  unjust  towards  Mr. 
Everett,  he  never  retaliated,  and  generously 
and  without  diminution,  recognized  the 
worth  even  of  those  who  most  grudgingly 
conceded  his  own.  To  these  public  attrac- 
tions he  added  exemplary  tenderness  in 
private  life  ;  and  when  any  one  of  his  family 
became  ill,  he  was  the  most  judicious,  most 
patient,  and  most  skilful  nurse. 

The  culminating  moment  of  this  period  of 
his  life  was  in  August,  1824,  when  he  was  to 


Edivard  Everett, 


221 


in 


address  the  great  literary  society  of  Cam- 
bridge on  the  circumstances  favorable  to  the 
progress  of  literature  in  America.  A  vast 
audience,  culled  chiefly  from  New  England, 
rushed  eagerly  to  hear  him  ;  by  a  happy 
chance,  Lafayette,  to  whom  all  the  people 
wished  to  show  gratitude  and  honor,  was 
present.  Everett  treated  the  main  topic  of 
his  address  admirably  and  most  acceptabl}', 
and  then  in  a  manner  peculiarly  liis  own,  he 
spoke  the  welcome  to  the  returning  hero  in 
words  which  went  straight  to  the  heart  of 
his  throng  of  hearers,  and  which  Chateau- 
briand translated  to  delight  France.  This 
hour  was  perhaps  the  happiest  of  his  life  ; 
his  triumph  too  perfect  to  be  renewed.  The 
oration  was  printed  ;  one  edition  after 
another  was  swept  off  with  avidity  ;  and  all 
men  in  Massachusetts  were  grateful  to  him, 
that  what  they  wished  should  be  done  fault- 
lessl}^  well,  he  had  done  in  a  manner  of  con- 


I'! 


I 


^ 


ill 


I 


m 


ii  i 


! 


]{  c 


222 


Edwa7^d  Everett. 


summate  tenderness  and  beauty.  A  vacancy 
existed  in  the  representation  in  Congress  of 
the  district  in  which  he  resided,  and  he  was, 
by  the  enthusiasm  of  the  young,  and  by  a 
general  running  together  of  opinion,  desig- 
nated as  the  candidate  and  elected. 

That  same  season  he  drew  nearer  and 
nearer  to  the  affections  of  the  New  England 
people  by  a  noble  address  at  Plymouth,  on 
the  landing  of  the  Pilgrims.  In  the  follow- 
ing spring  the  semi-centennial  anniversary 
of  the  first  battles  of  the  revolution  was  to 
be  celebrated;  and  no  other  than  he  was 
thought  of  to  be  the  orator.  The  village 
church  in  which  he  then  spoke  was  filled 
chiefly  by  the  farmers  of  the  neighborhood  ; 
and  such  was  his  tame,  and  such  the  good- 
will borne  towards  him,  that  the  eyes  of 
many  an  old  man  shone  with  tears,  as  soon 
as  he  rose  and  before  he  could  enter  on 
his  theme. 


Edward  Everett, 


223 


Intense  expectation  followed  him  to  Con- 
gress, where  he  took  his  place  in  December, 
1825.  For  some  weeks  he  sat  as  a  listener. 
An  extract  of  a  letter  from  General  Hamilton 
of  South  Carolina,  to  whom  his  speech  was 
a  reply,  will  show  how,  early  in  the  follow- 
ing February,  he  began : 


-cl 


*■ » 


"  I  send  you  the  debate  on  the  resolution 
calling  on  the  President  for  information  in 
relation  to  the  Congress  of  Panama,  in  which 
our  friend  Mr.  Everett  made  his  debut.  It 
was  just  as  it  ought  to  have  been,  because  it 
was  entirely  extemporaneous,  and  therefore 
took  the  House  by  surprise,  the  members  of 
which  did  not  entertain  any  expectation  of 
hearing  Mr.  E.,  except  on  some  topic  of 
elaborate  preparation.  His  manner  is  mild 
and  prepossessing,  and  urbane  in  the  extreme, 
his  fluency  uninterrupted,  and  with  practice 
I  have  little  doubt  of  his  becoming  a  first- 


rr 


i 

J 


!  n    i  i 


1  \   ii 
i  1  1 

''\\ 

.•i 
! 

1  i  '! 

U 

224 


Edward  Everett. 


rate,  off-hand  debater,  the  only  debating  tal- 
ent that  is  worth  a  farthing  in  a  House  con- 
stituted like  ours." 

Five  weeks  later,  Mr.  Everett,  who,  from 
first  to  last,  was  the  adversary  of  the  nullifiers 
and  all  their  brood,  delivered  a  carefully 
prepared  speech  in  opposition  to  Mr.  Mac- 
Duffie.  Up  to  that  time  the  President,  John 
Quincy  Adams,  had  carefully  kept  back  from 
uttering  a  word  that  could  be  specially  offen- 
sive to  a  Southern  slaveholder,  and  had  even 
maintained  a  "non-committal"  reserve  on 
the  subject  of  what  was  called  the  protection 
of  domestic  industry.  Mr.  Everett,  in 
opposing  a  scheme  of  Southern  statesmen, 
desired  to  announce  emphatically  that  he 
was  no  opponent  of  the  South  ;  and  by  an 
eagerness,  not  unusual  in  an  orator,  his 
rhetoric  went  beyond  his  intention.  He 
uttered   some    words  that   were  justly  cen- 


EdiViD'd  Everett. 


225 


-n, 

Ihe 

an 


sured  ;  and  applied  apologetically  to  our 
century  the  usages  and  language  of  two 
thousand  years  ago;  yet  on  this  occasion  he 
was  perfectly  sincere,  and  perfectly  con- 
sistent with  his  own  character  and  antecedent 
discourse.  And  this  brings  me  to  an  explana- 
tion of  qualities  in  his  nature,  which  affected 
his  long  career  as  a  statesman,  and  must  be 
taken  as  the  interpretation  of  his  whole  life. 
His  organization  was  so  delicate,  his  nervous 
system  so  fine  and  sympathetic  and  quick, 
that  he  could  not  contemplate  scenes  of 
blood  without  an  instinctive  horror.  Esteem- 
ing his  colleagues  from  South  Carolina,  and 
loving  their  society,  he  refused  to  consider 
an  institution  which  they  upheld  as  wholly 
inexcusable,  or  universally  and  absolutely 
wrong  ;  and  the  tliought  of  the  sorrows  that 
would  follow  the  track  of  insurgent  slaves 
was  more  than  he  could  bear.  Hence,  his 
utterance   of    words    which    miijht   seem  to 


Hi 


t.  ?T 


;i- 


1 

226 


Edivard  Everett, 


have  been  offered  in  excuse  for  slavery  itself. 
But  with  all  this  dread  of  sanguinary  revolu- 
tion and  the  war  of  races,  Mr.  Everett  was, 
by  that  very  sensitiveness  of  organization, 
full  of  sympathy  for  all  who  were  unhappy 
or  oppressed  ;  he  upheld  the  radical  doctrine 
of  democracy  against  the  Tory  and  imperialist 
theory  of  the  divine  right,  or  right  of  force, 
and  against  the  English  Whig  doctrine  of 
compact  ;  his  mind  sometimes  ran  in  a  chan- 
nel which  a  socialist  might  have  been  willing 
to  follow  ;  he  repelled  the  heart-withering 
doctrines  of  Malthus  ;  he  kindled  the  burning 
fellow-feeling  for  the  uprising  of  the  Greeks  ; 
he  spoke  for  the  dignity  and  the  welfare  of  the 
free  working  man  ;  and  without  violating  his 
instincts  or  habits  of  thought,  he  gave  at  the 
close  of  his  life  his  testimony  for  immediate, 
universal  emancipation.  By  the  apprehen- 
siveness  of  his  constitution  he  was  timidly 
conservative  ;  by  the  sentiments  of  his  heart 


Edivard  Everett. 


227 


1 


art 


he  was  the  friend  of  equal  rights  and  of  maii- 
kind.  This  apparent  contradiction,  which 
has  existed  in  other  great  and  good  men, 
qualified  all  the  judgments  made  of  him  by 
those  who  really  knew  him  ;  and  if,  by  those 
who  did  not  know  the  depth  of  his  love  for 
liberty  and  his  fellowmen,  he  was  sometimes 
chidden  for  want  of  firmness,  those  who  read 
the  secrets  of  his  soul  were  aware  that  he 
would  be  more  likely  to  encounter  martyr- 
dom for  his  sympathies  and  opinions  than 
those  who  doubted  his  power  of  self-sacrifice  ; 
and  in  his  first  speech  in  Congress,  and 
always  to  his  dying  breath,  he  fought  inflexi- 
bly against  the  revolutionary  tendencies  of 
the  evil  spirit  then  known  as  nullification. 

This  divided  nature  unfitted  him  to  become 
a  debater  in  Congress  ;  he  might  shine  as  the 
representative  of  a  part}^  but  not  as  a  party 
leader.  Had  he  had  more  alloy,  he  would 
have  been  a  better  political  gladiator.     But 


7  ''  I 


it 


1    ■ 

1 

1 


>] 

1.1 

• 

. 

: 

i 

i 

1 

228 


Edward  Everett, 


his  industry  made  his  services  essential  to 
those  with  whom  he  acted  ;  some  of  the  best 
official  reports  put  forth  by  his  political 
friends  are  of  his  workmanship  ;  and  he 
excelled  on  occasions  when  he  could  strike  a 
chord  that  vibrated  sweetly  for  all.  This 
was  never  more  marked  than  in  his  farewell 
to  Congress,  when  in  beautiful  language  and 
his  most  impressive  manner,  he  paid  a  tribute 
to  General  Jackson,  the  restorer  of  the  Union, 
then  engaged  in  upholding  the  rights  and 
honor  of  our  country  and  establishing  peace 
with  France. 

In  1835  Mr.  Everett  passed  from  Congress 
into  the  chair  of  Governor  of  Massachu- 
setts. Parties  were  becoming  more  evenly 
balanced ;  the  Nortliern  Democracy,  as 
organized  in  that  State,  was  as  much  devoted 
to  the  Union  as  himself,  as  much  opposed  to 
all  the  forms  of  nullification,  and  quite  as 
'entof  the  influence  of  slavery ;  but 


pel 


E (hoard  Everett. 


229 


d 


they  differed  from  him  by  vindicating  the 
policy  of  separating  the  public  revenue  from 
the  hazards  of  paper  currency,  and  by  greater 
inclination  to  the  principles  of  free  trade. 
They  increased  gradually  in  weight  and  in 
numbers,  and  at  the  end  of  four  years  he  found 
his  opponent  elected  over  him  by  a  majority 
of  one  vote.  The  contest  had  been  carefully 
kept  free  from  personal  asperity  towards 
Everett  ;  the  opponents  of  his  party  had 
treated  him  with  the  reverence  which  his 
just  administration  and  his  personal  virtues 
deserved  ;  and  the  new  democratic  governor 
paid  the  fullest  tribute  of  esteem  to  his  pre- 
decessor, whom,  with  an  unwonted  strength 
of  expression  toward  a  man  still  so  young,  he 
described  as  "  illustrious."  Among  those 
who  contributed  to  Everett's  defeat,  wasone 
at  least  whom  he  counted  amongst  his  inti- 
mate friends  ;  but  he  never  allowed  himself  to 
be  swayed  by  a  sentiment  of   bitterness,  and 


I 


If 


230 


Edxuard  Everett. 


11 


never  required  from  those  he  loved  a  sacri- 
fice of  political  conviction  to  personal  rci^ard. 

After  a  year  devoted  to  rest  during  a  resi- 
dence in  Italy,  whence  he  was  careful  to  send 
home  works  of  art  of  superior  excellence,  he 
was  again  called  to  tlie  public  service  as  minis- 
ter to  England.  His  political  position  appears 
from  the  manner  in  which  his  nomination 
was  received  by  the  Senate.  The  southern 
party  against  which  he  had  always  stood  in 
Congress,  made  war  upon  his  appointment, 
because  he  had  not  proved  a  friend  to  slavery, 
and  it  merits  to  be  brought  to  mind,  that  he 
was  saved  from  a  rejection  by  the  vote  of  a 
part  of  the  northern  democracy. 

Ho  .iduous  he  was  in  London  to  all  the 

d  Kji   his   station  ;    how  devoted  to  the 

general  interests  of  his  country  ;  how  atten- 
tive to  the  claims  of  individuals  ;  how  per- 
fectly he  bore  himself  in  a  foreign  land  as  the 
representative  of  this  Republic,  and  not  of  a 


I 


Eihvard  Everett, 


231 


party — is  still  frcsli  in  the  public  memory. 
The  great  and  the  good  of  all  classes  sought 
his  society  ;  he  was  a  most  welcome  guest  at 
every  country-house  which  he  found  time  to 
visit;  and  in  town,  Macaulay,  and  Hallam 
and  Milman,  and  Sidney  Smith,  and  IJabbage 
were  among  his  constant  companions  and 
friends. 

When  EvKRETT  returned  home  he  stood 
undoubtedly  at  the  head  (jf  the  men  of  letters 
of  New  England,  and  perha})s  I  might  sa}-  at 
the  head  of  the  men  of  letters  of  America. 
True,  Longfellow  excelled  him  in  poetry, 
and  Hawthorne  in  romance,  and  Prescott  in 
history,  and  the  incomparable  Irving  in  his 
own  peculiar  walks  ;  but  in  p(3\ver  of  rapid 
and  exact  acquisition  of  knowledge,  in  vari- 
ety and  comprehensiveness  of  research,  in  the 
perfectly  methodical  arrangement  of  his 
learning,  in  the  sovereign  command  over  the 
vast  mass  of  his  resources,  in  the  warmth  anc.l 


1 


232 


Edward  Everett, 


I 


rich  coloring  of  style,  \\\  correctness,  in  the 
use  of  words,  in  the  finished  neatness  of 
composition,  he  excelled  all.  The  eyes  of 
men  turned  to  him  to  take  the  presidency  of 
Harvard  Colle  :;.  One  at  least  of  his  inti- 
mate friends  had  warned  him  against  accept- 
ing the  office ;  of  which  his  acceptance 
would  certainly  bring  advantage  to  the 
public,  but  would  overwhelm  him  with  petty 
cares  and  torment  his  too  sensitive  nature 
with  provoking  annoyances.  Besides,  his 
habits  of  study  and  occupation  at  home  began 
very  seriously  to  impair  his  health  ;  he  had 
not  in  youth  indulged  in  athletic  exercises, 
in  wrestling,  or  running,  or  riding ;  now  it 
was  too  late  for  him  to  change  his  habits, 
and,  as  a  consequence,  his  mode  of  life 
required  extraordinary  circumspection.  But 
he  yielded  to  the  public  requisition,  which 
seemed  the  call  of  duty.  It  was  well  for  the 
institution  that  he  did  so ;  but  the  office  was 


Edward  Everett, 


233 


a  continued  martyrdom  for  himself.  Under 
his  scrupulous  sense  of  responsibility,  he 
devoted  himself  wholly  to  his  task ;  his 
favorite  studies  were  suspended ;  his  mind 
was  all  in  his  work.  When  he  came  to  the 
government  of  the  college,  its  discipline  had 
run  down  ;  the  old  scholarly  atmosphere  had 
become  a  little  tainted  with  indulgences  in 
former  time  unknown  ;  the  liberal  endow- 
ment for  a  library  and  a  large  part  of  the 
college  funds  had  been  foolishly  squandered 
in  an  ill-shapen  building,  poorly  adapted  to 
its  end.  But  Everett  set  earnestly  and  con- 
scientiously about  his  task  ;  his  supervision 
of  the  affairs  of  the  college  was  perfect ;  and 
though  he  personally  suffered  from  dealing 
with  the  occasional  levity  and  f)erverseness 
of  youth,  the  university  has  never  in  our  day 
had  a  more  faithful  and  able  chief. 

When    Everett   retired    frv>m    the  chair, 
men   spoke   of   how    much  he  had  sacrificed 


,it 


WW 


234 


Edward  Everett. 


5? 
it 


I 


^! 


and  iiow  much  he  had  suffered  during  the 
few  years  of  his  administration  ;  on  reflection 
they  see  how  much  he  had  done  to  raise  the 
character  of  the  university,  which  he  left 
improved  if  not  regenerated. 

His  first  leisure  was  given  to  making  a  col- 
lection of  his  various  addresses  ;  and  he  per- 
formed the  greatest  act  o.  friendship  for  Mr. 
Webster  by  editing  his  works  and  writing 
his  life.  Here,  too,  his  own  special  charac- 
ter appeared ;  the  strength  of  Webster  is  not 
impaired  by  his  treatment;  but,  as  far  as  he 
could,  he  softened  asperities  and  veiled  the 
rudeness  of  conflicts,  being  always  as  careful 
to  efface  the  follies  or  the  errors  of  an 
opponent,  as  of  an  associate. 

The  health  of  Mr.  Webster  was  failing ; 
those  who  saw  him  in  near  interviews  could 
trace  the  rapid  decay  of  his  vigor  ;  for  the 
last  months,  perhaps  for  more  than  the  last 
year,  of  his  life,  he  wasj  wnec^ual  to  his  duties 


III 


luiward  Everett. 


235 


as  Secretary  of  State  ;  on  his  death  Everett 
was  summoned  to  be  his  successor,  and  this 
was  the  public  position  for  which,  above  all 
others,  he  was  fitted.  Here  too  the  fine  and 
generous  tone  of  his  mind  appeared  to  the 
greatest  advantage.  He  never  lisped  a  word 
of  the  confusion  in  which  he  found  the  affairs 
of  the  depo»-^ment,  or  the  heavy  arrears  of 
accumulated  business.  He  went  diligently  to 
work  to  repair  what  his  friend  had  of  neces- 
sity neglected  ;  he  noiselessly  and  thoroughly 
restored  order  where  it  was  wanting ;  he 
finished  without  hurry,  but  completely,  what 
remained  to  be  done  ;  and  he  did  it  all  in  such 
a  manner  that  he  was  alike  faithful  to  his 
affection  for  the  memory  and  good  name  of 
his  predecessor,  and  faithful  to  his  country. 
We  all  remember  with  pride  the  vigor  with 
which  he  repelled  an  invitation  for  an  entang- 
ling alliance  with  foreign  powers  respecting 
the  government  of  Cuba.     All  parties  have 


236 


Edivard  Everett. 


s  fi 


[■■  fti 


ii 


i: 


joined  in  praising  the  ability  which  he  dis- 
played during  this  short  period  of  adminis- 
trative service. 

Before  he  retired  from  the  cares  of  office, 
which  to  him  were  not  oppressive,  his  native 
commonwealth  sent  him  to  the  Senate  of  the 
United  States.  It  was  too  late.  His  nervous 
excitability,  heightened  by  his  surferings  as 
an  invalid,  wholly  unfitted  him  for  a  place  in 
a  body  in  which  the  debates  were  daily 
becoming  more  fierce.  His  health  was 
broken  ;  he  could  not  bear  the  late  and  the  un- 
certain hours  of  labor  which  the  Senate  de- 
manded ;  and  under  the  peremptory  and  wise 
direction  of  his  physician,  he  soon  retired  to 
private  life,  which  he  was  never  again  to 
leave. 

The  calmness  of  his  quiet  years  allowed  him 
to  nurse  his  constitution,  and  hi<i  old  age  was 
beautiful  and  happy.  There  was  no  voice 
which   his  countrymen  so   loved   to  hear  on 


\i ' 


Ml 


Edward  Everett, 


237 


questions  of  public  interest,  the  culture  of 
science,  the  advancement  of  learning.  Others 
live  only  for  themselves  and  within  them- 
selves ;  Everett  lived  for  others,  and  was 
never  so  happy  as  when  he  played  upon  the 
great  instrument  of  the  national  mind,  and 
found  that  his  touch  brought  out  tones  in 
harmony  with  the  novements  of  his  own 
soul.  This  mode  of  life  was  attended  with 
something  of  trial ;  for  the  sensitiveness 
which  was  a  requisite  to  his  success  in  keep- 
ing up  a  sympathy  with  the  mind  of  the  peo- 
ple left  him  more  than  ever  acutely  suscepti- 
ble of  pain  from  public  censure,  and  even 
from  the  idle  cavils  of  triflers,  or  the  sneers 
of  the  envious  and  malign.  But  the  current 
of  public  opinion  was  so  strong  in  his  favor, 
he  called  out  so  much  affectionate  approval 
by  his  singularly  disinterested  devotion  to 
the  public  good,  that  his  last  years  were 
among  the  happiest  of  his  three  score  and  ten — 


n 


1  ! 


II 


I 


:  ii^ 


1 1  ; 


238 


Edivard  Everett. 


happier  than  the  years  of  impatient,  aspiring 
youth ;  happier  than  the  years  of  political 
conflict.  It  was  a  remark  of  the  late  John  C. 
Calhoun  that  there  is  no  reward  so  much  to 
be  desired  as  "  for  a  man  to  stand  well  with 
his  kind."  Everett  stood  well  and  beloved 
among  his  fellow-men. 

He  saw  the  clouds  that  were  lowering 
over  the  land,  and  prayed  earnestly  that  they 
might  be  dispelled.  For  the  sake  of  the 
Union  he  kept  constantly  before  the  mind  of 
the  nation  the  name  and  memory  of  Wash- 
ington ;  and  devoted  himself  with  earnestness 
to  setting  apart  Mount  Vernon  as  the  spot 
where  all  Americans  might  meet,  with  an 
equal  glow  of  patriotism.  There  at  least  the 
transient  passions  of  the  day  were  to  be 
hushed  by  recalling  the  immutable  glory  of 
the  past ;  and  thus  disloyalty  was  to  be 
rebuked  by  the  present  influence  of  the  father 
of  the  country.     His  zeal  in  this  cause   led 


Hiii 


Edward  Everett. 


239 


him  to  accept  the  munificent  invitation  of  the 
Ledger  ;  and  when  he  had  in  that  way 
become  accustomed  to  discourse  to  a  cioud 
of  listeners  whose  number  was  incalculable, 
his  love  of  sympathy  assisted  to  make  that 
journal  his  favorite  way  of  access  to  the 
public.  But  his  views  as  a  statesman  could 
not  be  suppressed  ;  and  his  papers  in  the 
Ledger  reflected,  at  first  indirectly,  then 
more  openly,  his  judgments  on  public  afiairs. 
To  promote  the  great  end  of  maintaining 
the  Union,  Everett  was  not  an  advocate  for 
concession,  but  for  conservatism.  He  had 
in  his  manhood  resisted  nullification  with 
all  his  might ;  he  now  resisted  everything 
that  tended  to  secession.  To  keep  the  con- 
stitution as  it  was,  and  thus  to  avoid  all  con- 
flict with  the  South,  was  the  key-note  of  his 
policy  ;  and  when  men  sought  to  avert  the 
storm  which  threatened  ruin,  one  party 
looked  to  him,  in  connection   with   another 


240 


Edward  Everett. 


W 


name,  to  bear,  in  the  presidential  contest,  the 
standard  on  which  was  inscribed  '*  the  Con- 
stitution and  the  Union."  The  selection  was 
just;  for  he  was  ever  a  lover  of  the  Union, 
and  ever  a  supporter  of  the  Constitution  in 
its  simple  integrity,  unimpaired  and  un- 
changed. Without  attempting  to  solve  the 
question  whether  he  was  right  in  the  attitude 
which  he  assumed,  it  is  certain  that  he  was 
honest,  ^ind  that  the  place  as  candidate  which 
he  consented  to  occupy,  fitted  the  conduct 
and  the  opinions  of  his  life.  It  is,  perhaps, 
less  known,  that  in  the  threefold  division 
which  prevailed  at  the  presidential  election 
in  i860,  it  had  been  the  intention  of  Mr. 
Douglas,  as  he  avowed  to  one  or  two  at  least 
of  his  friends,  in  case  the  decision  had  gone 
to  Congress,  to  have  given  his  influence  to 
secure  the  election  of  the  ticket  which  bore 
the  name  of  Everett.  .-.<. 

When     the    storm    burst    he    could    not 


Edward  Everett. 


241 


bt 


remain  quiet,  and  there  was  but  one  direction 
in  which  he  could  move.  Like  Douglas,  to 
whom  in  so  many  respects  he  formed  a  con- 
trast, he  rallied  to  the  support  of  the  govern- 
ment as  the  only  mode  in  which  he  could 
rally  in  support  of  his  country.  Those  who 
had  before  charged  him  with  want  of  firm- 
ness, had  not  kept  in  mind  that  his  delay 
grew  out  of  his  desires  and  his  convictions ; 
when  events  left  no  hope  of  a  peaceful  issue, 
he  was  instant  in  season  and  out  of  season, 
abroad  and  at  his  fireside,  with  friends  and 
before  the  people,  in  giving  to  the  contest 
unity  of  action  and  definiteness  of  purpose ; 
and  while  he  at  the  last  spoke  bravely 
for  universal  emancipation,  that  gentleness 
which  made  him  so  slow  to  acquiesce  in  the 
stern  and  terrible  necessity  of  civil  war, 
inspired  him  in  the  last  public  act  of  his  life 
to  send  consolation  to  those  who  had  been 
subdued.     He  died  as  he  lived,  harboring  no 


i 

M 


m 


i 


:4 


242 


Ediva^'d  Evei'ctt, 


persistent  ill-will  even  towards  traitors, 
being  satisfied  if  those  who  hi.ve  engaged  in 
rebellion  will  but  give  up  the  institution  which 
led  them  into  evil,  and  wishing  to  heal  the 
wounds  inflicted  on  the  Union,  not  by  the 
block,  not  by  confiscation,  not  by  revenge, 
but  by  the  establishment  forever  of  human 
freedom. 

I  have  failed  in  this  sketch,  if  I  have  not 
made  it  clear  that  the  course  of  life  of  our 
departed  friend  was  marked  by  mtegrity  and 
consistency,  which  had  their  root  in  his  own 
nature.  Are  there  any  who  wish  his  career 
had  been  different  ?  It  could  not  have  been 
different  except  by  his  ceasing  to  be  himself. 

It  is  equally  vain  to  wish  that  he  had 
devoted  his  powers  to  the  completion  of 
some  special  elaborate  work.  He  was  an 
orator,  because  to  be  an  orator  was  what  he 
liked  best;  what  he  was  most  fitted  for,  and 
what  others  most  entreated  of  him.     It  is  not 


Edivai'd  Everett. 


243 


certain  iluit  he  would  have  been  one  of  tlic 
first  of  historians ;  those  of  his  writings 
which  come  nearest  to  history,  such  as  his 
Life  of  Webster  and  his  Life  of  Washington, 
are  by  no  means  his  best.  No  one  would 
have  painted  action  in  more  vivid  colors; 
but  of  the  three  qualities  which  are  needed 
by  historians,  he  had  not  a  sufficient  percep- 
tion of  how  bad  men  can  be,  of  that  evil 
in  human  nature  which  theologians  call 
depravity.  Neither  was  he  accustomed 
sufficiently  to  consider  events  as  subordinate 
to  law.  The  other  requisite,  which  is  to 
perceive  that  after  all  there  is  something  in 
man  greater  than  himself,  he  had  in  an 
eminent  degree ;  and  this  perception  he 
turned  brilliantly  to  account  in  his  addresses. 
Neither  would  he  have  been  apt  to  excel  in 
the  construction  of  a  scheme  of  dogmatic 
theology  or  philosop'y;  and  perhaps  there 
are  others  in  our  time  who  would  have  gone 


244 


Edxvard  Everett. 


■  t 

■■  h    1 


beyond  liim  as  a  systematic  expounder  of 
public  law.  But  in  the  field  of  mental  labor 
to  which  he  devoted  himself,  he  is  first 
among  us  without  a  rival.  He  touched  the 
chord  of  public  feeling  with  instinctive 
accuracy  and  power;  at  seventy  he  could 
hold  a  vast  audience  enchained,  as  he  spoke 
without  notes,  with  a  clear,  melodious,  and 
unbroken  voice  for  two  hours  together;  and 
when  he  prepared  himself  for  a  public 
speech,  all  learning  and  all  science  seemed  to 
come  at  his  bidding,  and  furnish  him  with 
arguments,  analogies,  and  illustrations.  What 
he  has  spoken  with  his  golden  mouth  was 
always  in  behalf  of  good  letters,  of  patriot- 
ism, of  the  advancement  of  his  country  in 
science  and  art ;  of  union  ;  of  the  perpetua- 
tion of  republican  institutions.  From  the 
Charles  River  to  the  Missouri  the  air  still 
rings  with  his  eloquence. 
There  remains  no  man  alive  who  has  given 


1. 


Ediunrd  Everett, 


245 


such  an  impulse  to  the  minds  of  the  young 
in  his  g-eneralion  ;  they  will  rise  up  to  bless 
his  name  and  to  preserve  his  memory  in 
honor. 


GEORGE    BANCROFT. 


New  York,  January  18,  1865. 


i  f 

I 


"ill 


t/t 


Washington's    Birthday. 
His  Monument. 


"w^ 


^-o 


HE  United  States  of  Amer- 
ica alone  of  the  nations  is 
the  representative  of  hii- 
manitv,  for  it  alone  h  com- 
posed  of  men  from  every 
civilized  State  in  tlic  world. 
Moreover,  tlicy  take  the 
lead  in  the  science  of  politi- 
cal organizations,  having  taught  the  lesi:on 
which  other  nations  must  follow  if  they  will 


IVas/iingions  BirtJiday.  247 


thrive,  that  by  the  true  federal  system,  local 
self-government  may  be  enjoyed  in  perfection 
throughout  a  continent  under  one  head. 
The  man  who,  more  than  any  other,  brought 
about  these  results,  deserves  the  constant 
afTection  of  mankind.  This  day  the  chord 
that  runs  uyder  the  ocean  tells  all  the  culti- 
vated nations  of  the  earth  that  the  American 
people  devote  their  hours  to  the  contem|)la- 
tion  of  the  character  and  achievements -of 
George  Washington,  and  invite  them  all  to 
take  part  in  the  sublime  commemoration. 

Long  before  the  close  of  his  career,  the 
great  soldier  and  statesman  at  once  aroused 
admiration  and  love  in  all  classes  of  men.  At 
the  beck  of  Virginia,  IIoudon,in  his  time  the 
foremost  of  French  sculptors,  crossed  the 
Atlantic,  with  disinterested  enthusiasm,  to 
study  the  face  of  the  hero,  and  observe  his 
attitudes  and  his  step,  that  he  might  faithfully 
embody   h!^   likeness  in  stone,     North  Caro- 


; 


248 


lVashiriQ;io}Cs  BirtJiday : 


1,1 


I 


^» 


lina  called  on  Canova,  who  in  his  own  life 
had  no  rival  but  Thorwaldsen,  to  carve  for  . 
the  State  a  statue  of  Washington  ;  and  when 
more  than  sixty-six  years  ago  he  conducted 
a  young  American  through  his  studio  where 
his  works  were  all  present  in  marble,  or  in 
their  original  clay,  he  dwelt  with  marked 
delight  on  those  in  which  his  material  had 
been  white  without  a  perverse  vein  or  a 
spot.  When  the  American  asked  hi  in  the 
quality  of  the  block  of  marble  which  he  had 
chosen  for  Wasliington,  he  answered,  with 
sparkling  eyes :  "  BiancJiissimo  come  la  sua 
anima  ;  "  as  spotlessly  white  as  his  own  soul. 
Chateaubriand,  the  devotee  of  a  tempered 
monarchy,  and  an  artist  in  that  which  is  one 
of  the  highest  of  the  tine  arts,  the  just 
expression  of  thought  in  prose,  before  he  left 
Paris  to  take  part  in  the  Congress  of  Verona, 
received  a  visit  from  Count  Circourt,  who 
was   still   in  the  heyday  of  youth.     This  life 


I  I  is  Monument. 


249 


long  friend  of  Americans,  as  he  parted  from 
the  man  whom  he  revered,  expressed  to 
Chateaubriand  his  supreme  happiness  in  hav- 
ing seen  the  greatest  man  of  his  age.  "  Hush, 
young  man,"  interposed  Chateaubriand, 
*'  you  have  not  seen  Washington." 

Christian  Karl  Bunsen,  long  the  Prussian 
ambassador  at  London,  who,  having  serv  d 
in  Italy  as  well  as  in  England,  knew  all  the 
great  men  of  his  time,  saw  in  VViishington 
the  disinterested  benefactor  of  a  people,  and 
declared  that  before  his  equal  in  history 
could  be  found  the  inquirer  must  travel 
back  to  the  time  of  Moses. 

To  justify  such  a  conclusion,  il.  is  not 
enough  that  a  man  should  be  endowed  with 
singular,  or  even  unique  powers.  He  must 
have  manifested  them  in  public  acts;  before 
he  can  claim  a  great  place  in  history. 

Washington,  in  his  youth,  was  chosen  by 
those  who  knew  him  well  to  take  part  in  the 


i| 


il 


i^ 


IP 


4' 


n 


rl     i 


250  JVashmgtons  Birthday  : 

events  which  extended  the  rule  of  the  Eng. 
lish-speaking  people  to  the  Mississippi  and 
indefinitely  to  the  north. 

In  the  expedition  of  Braddock  he  was  the 
only  one  who  saw  clearly  what  should  be 
done ;  in  the  terrible  disaster  that  ensued 
he  was  the  only  officer  who  gained  glory  for 
himself  and  his  Virginia  regiment.  He  came 
from  the  field  with  a  reputation  so  well  estab- 
lished that  he  was  already  looked  upon  as  one 
destined  by  Providence  to  render  the  greatest 
services  to  his  country. 

In  the  campaign  which  carried  the  English 
banner  to  Pittsburgh,  joint  voices  from  New 
England  and  from  Virginia  led  to  his  appoint- 
ment on  the  staff  of  the  commanding  general. 
His  counsels,  which,  young  as  he  was,  were 
the  dictates  of  just  reflection,  were  followed. 
He  was  appointed  to  lead  the  advanced 
troops  as  a  brigadier,  and  by  his  command 
the  English  banner — destined  to  give  way  to 


His  Momiment. 


251 


none  but  the  banner  of  his  independent  coun- 
try— floated  in  triumph  over  the  junction  of 
the  waters  that  make  the  Ohio,  and  the 
dominion  of  the  English  tongue  was  at  once 
extended  to  the  Mississippi. 

When  the  evil  influences  misguided  Great 
Britain  into  an  attempt  to  subvert  the  rights 
of  America,  no  one  was  swifter  than  Wash- 
ington to  discern  the  scope  of  the  design,  and 
to  hold  himself  ready  to  take  up  arms  for  its 
defeat.  I  have  had  in  my  hands  his  letter  to 
his  royalist  friend,  Bryan  Fairfax,  of  the 
twenty-fourth  of  August,  1774,  in  which  the 
cause  of  America  is  supported  in  his  own 
language  and  his  own  style  with  oerfect  clear- 
ness and  precision  of  statement,  as  well  as 
with  brevity  and  decision. 

When  he  took  command  of  the  army  what 
endless  troubles  did  he  not  immediately  en- 
counter from  the  want  of  money  and  of  credit, 
and  of  men  !    How  often  was  he  compelled  by 


252  Washington  s  Birthday: 


(1 


1 3 


the  short-sightedness  of  Congress  to  repeat, 
and  how  often  in  vain,  the  admonitions  as  to 
the  manner  in  which  the  army  should  be 
organized;  admonitions  which  Moltke — than 
whom  no  other  living  man  has  so  many 
points  of  resemblance  with  Washington — 
cited  to  the  German  Diet  in  confirmation  of 
advice  drawn  from  his  own  experience. 

The  esteem  of  his  fellow-men  was  the  only 
reward  which  he  coveted  for  his  labors ;  and 
yet,  when  at  one  period  of  the  war  an  attempt 
was  made  to  turn  the  public  opinion  against 
him,  and  nothing  for  the  vindication  of  his 
honor  was  needed  but  to  lay  before  the  pub- 
lic the  narrowness  of  the  means  which  Con- 
gress had  placed  at  bis  disposal,  he  refused  to 
repel  reproaches  by  one  single  word  of  the 
truth,  saying:  "To  clear  myself  from  blame 
would  do  injury  to  my  countr}-." 

When  the  King  of  France  sent  a  French 
army,  commanded  by  officers  taken  in  a  great 


His  Monument. 


253 


measure  from  the  highest  nobility,  to  serve  in 
America,  and  placed  it  absolutely  under  the 
command  of  Washington,  how  did  its  officers 
vie  with  one  another  in  their  confidence  in 
their  republican  general !  How,  for  his  sake, 
and  the  cause  which  he  defended,  they  trod 
under  foot  all  jealousies  between  one  another ! 
How  men  of  superior  rank  in  the  army,  if  the 
good  of  the  service  for  the  moment  required 
it,  served  without  a  word  of  reluctance  under 
those  of  an  inferior  one  ! 

How  Washington  had,  for  their  lives,  the 
hearts  of  every  one  of  them  !  When  no  other 
voice  could  prevail,  how  did  he  himself  in 
person  persuade  the  commander  of  the 
French  squadron  in  American  waters  to 
submit  to  his  advice  !  Where  will  you  find 
in  the  wars  of  Europe  an  example  of  so  per- 
fect a  union. 

All  agree,  without  one  single  dissenting 
voice,  that  but  for  Washington  the  war  of 


254  Washingtoris  Birthday : 


i .  > .  I  , 


K  ■ 


w 


the  American  Revolution — this  first  decisive 
contest  between  government  founded  upon 
the  rights  of  man  and  government  as  inher- 
ited from  the  past — must  have  failed. 

When  the  war  of  the  Revolution  was  at  an 
end,  it  remained  to  do  what  had  never  before 
been  thought  possible — to  form  a  continent 
into  one  efficient  nation  through  a  perfect 
concert  of  self-governing  States.  After  a 
vain  struggle  through  a  long  war,  and  after 
tliC  approach  of  peace  had  made  the  country 
despair  of  effecting  a  real  union,  it  was  the 
voice  of  Washington  that  was  listened  to,  as 
he  summoned  the  people  of  the  several  States 
to  meet  in  convention  and  form  the  new  con- 
stitution. But  for  Washington  the  federal 
convention  never  could  have  been  called,  and 
as  a  consequence  the  American  constitution 
could  never  have  been  framed. 

Without  Washington  the  Constitution  of 
the    United   States   never  would  have  been 


His  Alonunient. 


255 


formed  ;  and  may  it  not  be  said  that  without 
him,  the  States,  which  were  so  strong  each 
within  itself,  might  never  have  consolidated 
the  Union? 

The  constitution  was  the  form  of  unit)n, 
but  it  had  not,  as  yet,  life  in  the  habits  and 
minds  of  the  citizens  of  the  several  States. 
The  new  government  could  not,  in  a  moment, 
supercede  in  the  affections  of  the  common 
people  the  old  government  under  which  they 
had  thriven  so  long.  It  took  time  for  the 
tendrils  to  be  formed  by  which  the  plants 
should  cling  to  their  new  support.  It  was 
universally  acknowledged  by  the  friends  of 
the  constitution  that  at  the  moment  no  other 
man  than  Washington  had  the  capacity  to 
set  the  powers  of  the  new  government  suc- 
cessfully in  motion.  When,  after  eight  years, 
he  retired  from  the  presidency,  he  left  the 
Union  established. 

After  he  retired,  the  point  from  which  to 


256 


WaskifigtoiCs  Birthday  : 


contemplate  his  character  is  that  of  devoted- 
ness  to  the  Union.  He  had  a  successor 
regularly  chosen  by  the  people,  and  he  saw 
in  him  the  representative  of  union.  He  saw 
in  his  vicinity  the  incipient  tendency  to  a 
conspiracy  a^>^ainst  the  Union,  growing  in 
strength.  Just  in  the  degree  in  which  that 
opposition  to  union  increased,  did  he  put 
himself  forward  as  ready  even  to  take  the 
field,  and  published  to  the  statesmen  of 
Virginia  and  to  the  world  his  determination 
to  stand  immovably  for  union,  and,  if  neces- 
sary, to  maintain,  even  in  arms,  the  new 
constitution  as  the  most  perfect  model  of 
government  ever  established  by  man. 

So,  throughout  a  long  life,  Washington 
was  from  his  youth  to  the  moment  of  his 
death,  employed  in  events  which  affected  the 
great  powers  of  the  earth,  and  for  the  rest  of 
his  life  he  took  the  leading  part  in  the  great- 
est modern  epoch  in  the  history  of  the  race. 


ill! 


J 


His  Mo)iument. 


257 


[  devoted- 
successor 
d   lie  saw 
He  saw 
ncy   to  a 
owing    in 
liich  that 
1    he    put 
take  the 
;smen    of 
fmination 
if  neces- 
the    new 
nodel  of 

• 

ihington 
it  of  his 
:ted  the 
rest  of 
le  greats 
he  race. 


Without  him  the  war  of  the  Revolution 
would  not  have  succeeded  ;  without  him  the 
convention  for  framing  the  constitution 
could  never  have  assembled,  nor  the  constitu- 
tion  have  been  framed.  His  influence  was 
superior  to  that  of  any  other  man  in  securing 
the  adoption  of  the  constitution ;  so  that  it 
may  be  even  believed  that  but  for  him  it 
could  not  have  been  adopted.  All  agree 
that  his  services  were  essential  as  President 
to  put  the  new  constitution  in  motion ;  and 
he  died  proclaiming  to  his  country  that 
resistance  to  the  Union  by  unlawful  force 
must  be  met  by  the  lawful  exertion  of  force. 
He  who  proclaims  the  great»^nss  of  Washing- 
ton may,  at  least,  point  to  a  life  filled  full  of 
all-momentous  deeds. 

It  is  but  fair  to  concede  leave  to  a  skeptical 
inquirer  to  demand  what  manner  of  man  was 
he  who,  by  his  deeds,  secured  such  blessings 
for   the    race;    and   the    observer   must   be 


2  5  B  J  J  \xsh  in^to7t  's  Birt/i  day  >  : 


ready    to    specify   tlic    qualities  I'roni   which 
flowed  these  transcendant  results. 

The  character  of  Washington's  greatness 
may  be  described,  in  its  unity,  as  the  highest 
wisdom  of  common  sense ;  that  is  to  say,  the 
largest  endowment  of  the  power  that  consti- 
tutes the  highest  part  of  the  nature  of  man  ; 
or,  it  may  be  described  as  in  action  the  perfec- 
tion of  reflective  judgment.  That  common 
sense,  or  reflective  judgment,  was  combined 
with  creative  and  executive  capacity.  If  he 
spoke,  or  if  he  wrote,  he  came  directly  to 
the  point  on  which  the  matter  in  discussion 
depended  ;  and  pronounced  his  thoughts  in 
clear,  strong,  and  concise  words ;  if  he  was 
to  act,  he  suited  his  means,  be  they  scanty 
or  sufficient,  in  the  best  way  to  his  end. 
When  America  assembled  its  ablest  men  in 
a  first  congress,  Patrick  Henry  said  ;  "  For 
sound    judgment,    Colonel    Washington    is 


His  Momimcnt. 


259 


unquestionably  the  greatest  man  on  that 
floor." 

His  will  moved  with  the  greatest  momen- 
tum ;  but  in  the  supreme  moment  of  excite- 
ment it  was  ever  under  his  control.  In  mod- 
eration, which  is  the  test  of  greatness,  no  one 
exceeded  him.  fie  was  humane  ;  he  never 
wasted  the  life  of  a  soldier.  The  highest 
excitement  to  which  he  ever  yielded  was 
impassioned  grief  at  the  unjust  sufferings  of 
others. 

This  is  the  praise  of  Washington.  In  the 
construction  of  tlie  government  of  the  nation 
he  would  never  suffer  the  employment  of 
physical  force  ;  he  sought  to  guide  the  coun- 
try only  by  giving  good  advice,  and  enforcing 
it  by  a  manifest  integrity  and  disinterested 
affection  for  the  public  good.  His  fixed 
belief  was,  that  an  available  constitution 
could  be  formed  only  by  means  of  the  public 
wisdom    and    will,   legally    expressed,    and 


26o  Washingtoiis  Birthday  : 


honestly  obeyed.  This  is  the  wand  of  en- 
chantment by  which  Washington  controlled 
the  judgment  and  the  will  of  his  countrymen. 

It  is  said  of  Raphael  that  the  idea  of 
Beauty  was  so  enshrined  in  his  nature  that  it 
nourished  his  imagination,  inspired  his  inven- 
tive powers,  and  guided  his  hands;  so  that  of 
all  the  painters  known  to  us,  he  is  the  greatest. 
In  like  manner,- Washington  had  within  him- 
self the  idea  of  Goodness,  the  creative  prin- 
ciple and  ruling  power  of  his  life,  illuminat- 
ing every  part  of  his  mind  and  his  heart, 
and  guiding  him  in  every  action.  The  crown- 
ing glory  of  his  character  was  his  purity  of 
will.     Who  in  the  world's  history  is  his  equal  ? 

Miltiades  rescued  Hellenic  civilization 
from  Asiatic  despotism  ;  and  generation  after 
generation  gratefully  dwell  on  his  name.  But 
the  great  act  of  Miltiades  was  the  deed  of  a 
single  day.     After  a  busy  life  of  action  Wash- 


His  Monument: 


261 


ington  still  served  humanity  in  his  old  age, 
and  died  in  the  public  service. 

Of  Julius  Cresar,  the  youth  was  profligate. 
In  manhood  he  was  overwhelmed  with  debt 
till  he  obtained  the  rule  of  a  province.  Italy 
was  sinking  under  the  system  of  large  es- 
tates cultivated  by  slave  labor,  and  Caesar 
increased  the  desolation  by  sending  home 
hordes  of  captives  to  be  sold  as  slaves.  He 
could  not  reform  the  Roman  constitution, 
for  he  had  no  moral  power,  and  could  rely 
only  on  his  legions.  lie  fell  when  about  to 
assume  the  emblems  of  a  monarch,  leaving 
to  his  own  times,  and  to  posterity,  a  pesti- 
lent example. 

Cromwell  step|>ed  from  the  peaceful  culti- 
vatior  of  the  soil  to  the  command  of  armies, 
and  the  direction  of  victory.  But  his 
strength  was  in  the  sword,  and  therefore  he 
could  give  peace  neither  to  Kngland,  nor  to 
Scotland,  nor  to  Ireland  ;  still  less  conciliate 


262  Washington  s  Birthday  : 

the  three  by  establishing,  with  their  consent, 
a  new  constitution.  For  this  reason  the 
influence  of  the  greatest  one  in  the  line  of 
English  princes  could  not  outlast  his  life. 

Napoleon  Bonaparte  was  "  a  great  wor- 
rior,"  not  a  great  man.  Gaining  ])ower  by 
treason  and  bloodshed,  he  was  mad  enough 
to  attempt  to  quarter  his  family  as  kings  and 
princes,  and  his  generals  as  [)ensioncrs  on 
some  of  the  roudcst  nati(^nsof  Eurojje;  and 
the  result  was  that  after  he  had  exhausted 
France  in  wars  of  contest,  and  after  having 
kings  of  the  old  lines  for  his  companions  and 
princes  for  his  servants,  he  was  driven  beyond 
the  equator,  leaving  France  with  a  dimin- 
is^ed  boundary  10  be  the  sufferer  for  his 
crimes. 

It  is  Washington  alone  who  led  tliirteen 
separate  States  jointly  to  independence,  and 
then  to  union  under  a  constitution  framed 
b}'  themselves. 


His  j\fo)i  H  mc?ii,. 


263 


The  monument  to  Washington,  though  it 
may  show  no  sign  that  wc  have  among  us  a 
Pericles  and  a  Phidias,  speaks  thethouglit  of 
the  American  people.  It  is  not  built  over 
the  dust  and  ashes,  the  wasting  relics  ot 
Washington;  these  are  preserved  where 
they  properly  belong,  on  the  heights  of 
Mount  Vernon,  the  scene  of  his  domestic  life, 
his  own  beloved  home.  There  let  them  rest 
forever.  The  monument  wliich  points  to 
the  skies  was  built  to  keep  in  memory  the 
services  and  the  virtues  of  the  living  man. 
It  points  to  no  career  that  is  ended  ;  it  points 
to  deeds  that  artt  to  have  their  influence  as 
long  as  the  nation  keeps  together,  as  long  as 
the  world  shall     jmain. 

The  monument  is  made  in  honor  not  of 
dust  and  ashes  that  lie  buried,  but  of  the 
person  whose  spirit  and  influence  and  char- 
acter are  to-day  fresh  and  active.  The  mon- 
ument is  the  evidence  that  Washington  still 


264  M'ashin^loiis  Birthday  : 


lives.  It  looks  to  the  south  and  to  the  north, 
to  the  west  and  to  the  east,  and  its  voice  cries 
to  all;  "  The  Union  must  be  preserved — the 
Union  must  last  forever." 


The  End. 


A  Matter  of  Millions. 


By   ANNA    KATHARINE    GREEN, 


Author  of  '*  The  J'ortiakrn  Jiin,^'  '*  The  LranHirorth  Case"  etc. 


MA<iNIKH;KNTI-Y  Ii.UHTKATKH  liY  VUTOK  I'KKAKD. 


12ino.    482  Pa^ea.    Handsomely  Bound  in  EnsrliBh  Cloth. 
Gold  Stamping-  on  Cover.    Price,  $1.50. 


This  brilliant,  artistic  novel  will  enhance  the  great 
reputation  of  the  popular  author  of  "  The  Forsaken 
Inn."  It  is  a  story  of  to-day.  The  scene  is  laid  in  the 
city  of  New  York  and  the  village  of  (Ireat  liarrington, 
Mass.  The  story  recites  the  strange  adventures  of  a 
beautiful  heiress  who  is  herself  so  mysterious  a  creature 
that  the  reader  cannot  fathom  her  character  until  the 
final  explanation  and  denouement  of  the  plot.  She  is  an 
intellectual  and  talented  girl  whose  musical  gifts  make 
her  admired  and  beloved  by  her  own  sex,  and  the  object 
of  passionate  adoration  by  the  (»ther  sex.  The  artistic 
life  is  pictured  and  exemplified  by  two  of  the  principal 
characters  in  the  story.  Everything  conspires  to  make 
the  story  one  of  strong  dramatic  interest. 


r 


A  NEW  EDITION. 


THE  HIDDEN  HAND. 

By  MRS.  E.  D.  E.  N.  SOUTHWORTH, 

Authrr  of  "  rnknoicn,^'  "For  Uoman'n  Lore"  ** J   Leap  in 

the  Darky'^  "  Xearenf  and  Dearent;^  '♦  The  Lott  Lady 

of  Lone,''  ''The  Vnloeed  Wife,"  etc. 

With  TIlustialionH  «y  W.  11.  Thwaltes  i.   d  Aithnr  Limiloy. 
Paper  Cover,  60  Cents.    Bound  Volume,  $1.00. 


**  The  Hidden  Hand  ;  or,  Capitola  the  Madcap,"  is  one 
of  the  most  popular  stories  ever  issued  from  the  press.  Wc 
doubt  if,  in  all  the  realms  of  literature,  there  has  ever 
been  a  heroine  who  could  vie  with  th  captivating  mad- 
cap Capitola  in  exciting  the  admiration  of  readers,  or  in 
winning  and  keeping  their  hearts.  She  is  so  bright,  so 
spirited,  so  beautiful,  so  sagacious,  so  dauntless,  and  yet 
so  innocent  and  childlike,  that  she  at  once  takes  all 
readers  captive  and  holds  them  enchained  by  her  fascina- 
tions clear  to  the  last  page  of  the  story. 

The  way  in  which  Capitola  outwits,  overcomes  and  cap- 
tures the  gigantic  and  brutal  robber  Black  Donald,  when 
he  had  concealed  himself  in  her  lonely  room  at  the  dead 
of  night,  and  chuckled  with  fiendish  glee  to  think  he  had 
the  bewitching  girl  in  his  power,  is  one  of  the  most  thrill- 
ing chapters  in  the  entire  range  of  romantic  literature. 

'*The  most  valuable  and  popular  story  ever  published 
in  the  New  York  Ledger  was  Mrs.  Southworth's  *  Hidden 
Hand.'  So  great  was  the  demand  for  it  that  it  was  re- 
published in  the  Ledger  three  times/  The  cry  came 
from  everywhere  :  '  Publish  this  great  story  in  book  form  P 
And  now  it  is  published  in  book  form,  and  is  eagerly  read 
by  tens  of  thousands  of  admirers." — Passaic  City  Herald. 


THE    NEW   SOUTH. 

By  Henry  W.   Grady. 

with  a  rliarurtor  Rkotch  of 

HKNllY  W.  CtKADY 

HV  Ol.IVKU   I)YKI{. 


16mo.    Bound  in  Cloth.    Uniform  With  "Qreat  Senators." 
With  Portrait.    Price,  $1.00. 


In  lilH  letter  oonsontlnR  to  write  the  Herlen  of  intcreRtinKletterH 
whioii  form  this  v«»luiiie,  Mr  Grady  said:  "  It  Is  a  matter  that  I 
take  K^Mit  hiterest  iu,  and  I  will  Kive  yon  hIx  letterH  that  I  think 
wir,  ..  ■  -in  imprcHsion.  My  idea  wonld  he  to  deal  in  the  tirHt 
lo-  with  the  dllTerenee  between  the  new  Honth  and  the  old.  In 
the  second,  with  the  general  growth  of  theHouth  since  the  War. 
In  the  third,  with  the  ajfiieultMre  of  the  Honth.  In  the  fonrth, 
with  the  indnstrial  status  of  the  Honth.  In  the  tifth,  with  the 
political  condition  of  the  Honth  and  its  probable  ontcimie,  :ind 
touchiiiK  the  race  problem.  In  the  sixth,  a  Kt'iit^ral  letter  closinK 
tue  series."  Mr  Grady  did  not  adhere  strictly  to  this  outline,  but 
it  affords  a  siitTlciently  clear  idea  of  his  intention  and  the  c«»ntents 
of  the  volume.  "  In  his  letters  to  the  New  York  Ledger  on 'The 
New  Honth,'"  Mr  Dyer,  in  his  eloquent  sketch,  says,  "Mr.  Gnuly 
KHve  to  the  world  the  irist  and  essence  of  all  that  he  ha^l  been  In- 
spired to  write  on  that  subject  by  his  love  for  the  land  of  his  Idrtli, 
by  his  pride  in  her  worth  and  his  hope  In  her  destiny.  These 
letters  evidently  came  hot  from  his  heart ;  they  are  freighted  with 
Information,  are  picturesque  in  description  fervid  and  eloquent 
in  style,  honest  in  purpose  and  noble  in  spirit.  They  will  lon^  bo 
treasured  as  the  latest  and  niwst  utterances  of  the  rcnuirkablo 
luan  who  wrote  them," 


Iff 

I! 

11 


FIVE  YEARS 


WITH    THE 


CONGO  CANNIBALS. 

By  HERBERT  WARD. 

Maffnifl'-^rntly  lUtistrated  With  Many  Full-Paffe  Enffrav- 
iners  After  Original  Drawiuflrs  Made  on  the  Spot  By 
the  Author.     Grown  Octavo,  Elegantly  Bound,  $3.00. 


Herbert  Ward's  book  is  the  record  of  five  years  spent 
with  the  most  savage  tribes  of  the  far  interior  of  Africa. 
It  contains  many  facts,  hitherto  unknown,  concerning  the 
life,  custon.3  and  superstitions  of  the  cannibal  races.  It 
abounds  with  thrilling  adventures,  and  the  story  it  tells  of 
risks  and  dangers  encountered  in  strange  places,  and 
among  wild  and  hostile  people,  is  one  of  fascinating  in- 
terest. A  flood  of  light  is  thrown  on  the  horrors  and 
cruelties  existing  among  the  millions  of  Central  Africa. 

Mr  Ward's  travels  in  Africa  commenced  in  1884,  when 
he  received  an  appointment  in  the  service  of  the  Congo 
Free  State.  He  was  a  member  of  the  Kmin  Bey  Relief 
Kxpedition,  and  while  in  the  service  of  Mr.  H.  M.  Stanley, 
he  made  his  memorable  canoe  journey  of  eleven  hundred 
miles  on  the  Congo. 

His  book  contains  entirely  new  matter  about  the  tribes 
of  Central  Africa,  will  have  permanent  interest  and  value, 
and  will  be  the  standard  work  on  that  subject. 


I   1 


•cl 


A  NEW  NOVEL 

By    the    Popular    Author,    Mrs.    Amelia    E.    Barr. 

A  Cheap  Edition:  Price,  50  Cents. 


The  Beads  of  Tasmer. 

By  MRS.  AMELIA   E.  BARR. 

liKAniFrM     \lu'htratki>  liY  Wauiikn  H.  Da  vim. 

12ino.  396  Paares.  Handsomely  Bound  in  English  Cloth. 
Uniform  with  '*A  Matter  of  MiUiona"  and  "The  For- 
saken Inn,"  by  Anna  Katharine  Qreen.  Price,  $1.26. 
Paper  Cover,  Price,  60  Cents. 


"The  Beads  of  Tasmer,"  by  Mrs.  Amelia  E.  IJarr,  is 
a  powerful  and  interesting  story  of  Scotch  life.  The  sin- 
gular and  strenuous  ambition  which  a  combination  of  an- 
cient pride  and  modern  greed  inspires;  the  loveliness  of 
the  Scotch  maidens,  both  Highlanders  and  Lowlanders; 
the  deep  religious  nature  of  the  people  ;  the  intense  mani- 
festation of  these  characteristic  traits  by  Scotch  lovers  ol 
high  and  low  degree;  the  picturesque  life  of  the  country,, 
involving  the  strangest  vicissitudes  of  fortune  and  the  ex- 
hibition of  the  most  loving  and  loyal  devotion,  constitute 
a  theme  which  is  of  the  highest  intrinsic  interest,  and 
which  is  developed  by  the  accomplished  authoress  with 
consummate  art  and  irresistible  power.  **  The  Beads  of 
Tasmer"  is  certainly  one  of  Mrs.  liarr's  very  best  works, 
and  we  shall  be  much  mistaken  if  it  does  not  take  high 
rank  among  the  most  successful  novels  of  the  century. 

For  sale  by  all  Booksellers,  or  sent,  postpaid,  on 
receipt  of  price,  by 

ROBKR  r  BONNER'S  SONS,  I'liblishers, 
Cor.  Wri.LiAM   and  Spruck   Sirkkts,  Nf.w  York. 


♦   VJ 


[5 


A  NFAV  LIFE  OF  ''OLD  HICKORY." 

General  Andrew  Jackson 

By  OLIVER  DYER, 

Author  of  *•  art-at   Senators  of  the  Vnifrd  Siatee,^*  "  JAfe  of 

Henry  W.  (irady,'*  *' Life  and  U'ritinya  of 

deorge  Bancroft,"  etc. 

With  Illustrations  liv  H.  M.  Eaton. 

12ino.    378  Pagres.    Handsomely  Bound  in  Cloth.    Price, 

$1.00. 


Andrew  JiickHon'8  career  Ih  the  iiioHt  intercHtliiK  and  thrilling 
(n  the  annalHof  American  iH)litici4.  Few  men  of  any  race  or  nation 
liavcHbown  greater  conragc  and  reH(»liition,  andbiH  great  acLieve- 
mentH  cover  biH  name  with  imperiHbable  glory.  Every  patriotic 
Anii^ricau.  of  wbatever  political  party,  now  takes  pride  in  biri 
memory.  To  know  bis  blntory  1h  a  dnty  as  well  as  a  necessity  of 
every  citizen  who  exercises  intelligently  the  rigbt  of  snft'rage. 

Mr.  Dyer's  Life  of  Andrew  Jackson  is  ebaracteri/ed  t>y  the  In- 
sight, the  Hiil»tle  appreciation  of  principles  and  motives,  the  vivid 
delineations  of  character,  the  picturesque  descriptions,  the  clear 
narration  of  events  and  the  felicitous  grouping  and  presentation 
of  facts  for  which  the  author's  writin.i;s  are  distinKnished.  The 
sketch  of  Jackson's  childhood  and  early  manhood,  which  re- 
veals the  secret  of  his  charac-ter  and  nmrvclous  career,  is  one  ot 
the  most  attecting,  thrilling  and  instructive  chapters  in  biography. 
The  picture  of  the  wild  frontier  life  of  a  hundred  years  ago,  and 
of  (icneral  Jackson's  Indian  tights  and  his  battles  iu  the  New 
Orleaii:^  campaign,  are  so  vivid  and  graphic  that  the  reader  seems 
to  be  a  parflripant  in  the  scenes  described.  Burr's  conspiracy, 
the  rise  and  fall  of  Nullitlcation,  the  theory  of  Secession,  and 
the  philosophy,  the  inherent  nature  and  the  paramount  impor- 
tance of  the  American  Union  are  analytically  and  luminously 
treated.  In  short,  Mr.  Dyer's  liife  of  Andrew  Jackson  is 
crammed  full  of  correct  information  on  the  tide-turning  events 
in  American  history,  law  and  government,  as  well  as  a  powerful 
and  brilliant  biography  of  the  most  poi>ular  of  the  heroes  whose 
achievementn  have  rendere<l  the  American  name  illustrious. 

For  sale  by  all  Booksellers,  or  sent,  postpaid,  on  receipt  of 

price,  by 

ROBERT  BONNER'H  RON8,  Put>li«ber8, 

Cor.  Wiluam  and  SrRUCE  Btkkets,  New  York. 


